According to Yonhap’s report, Yoon took the issue to the agenda at the cabinet meeting held in the capital Seoul.
“It is clear that future-oriented cooperation between South Korea and Japan will help defend freedom, peace and prosperity in both countries and the world,” Yoon said in his speech here. said.
Emphasizing that they will make the compensation payments to the forced Korean workers without the contribution of Japanese companies, Yoon stated that this solution was found by them to serve the common interests and future developments between the two countries.
Yoon also stressed the importance of previous administrations’ attempts to alleviate the suffering of “victims”.
Pointing out that the two countries mutually contribute to each other’s tourism and that the trade and investment projects between the parties have developed, Yoon stated that Japan has become a “partner” in military, economic, technological and scientific fields from an aggressive stance.
Yoon also instructed the cabinet members to carry out detailed studies on the creation of a mechanism that focuses on future cooperation between Japan and South Korea and that will ensure mutual interaction in business and social life.
Forced Korean workers
Many Japanese companies were sentenced to pay compensation in the lawsuits brought by Japan’s forced and unpaid workers and their relatives during the colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula in 1910-1945 in South Korea.
The decision set a precedent for similar lawsuits pending, and other Japanese companies were repeatedly sentenced to compensation.
Japan claims that the grants, donations and loans transferred to South Korea with the agreement signed after the negotiations with South Korea for the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965 are “war compensation” and that the issue of compensation is closed with this agreement.
South Korea, on the other hand, argues that it is a crime against humanity to force people to work in the colonial administration, and that the rights of those who have been wronged cannot be limited by the agreements signed between the two countries.