South Korea has agreed to pay compensation to its citizens who worked in Japanese labor camps during World War II. This is how they want to settle historical disputes with Japan.
The BBC writes about it.
Both countries characterize this agreement as groundbreaking and aimed at solving colonial problems. Instead, the victims themselves are dissatisfied with the fact that Japan itself will not bear any responsibility.
A crowd of protesters gathered outside South Koreaʼs foreign ministry to protest a plan for South Korean companies to pay contributions to a relief fund for victims.
Japan also welcomed South Koreaʼs refusal to sue two Japanese companies. All previous attempts by South Korea to obtain reparations from Japan were unsuccessful. In 2018, the court ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to 15 victims of forced labor. But they refused to do it there.
About 150,000 Koreans were forced to work in factories and mines in Japan during the war due to the fact that the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945.
The new president of South Korea, Yoon Seok-yeol, is trying to create allied relations with Japan, which is also helped by the United States. South Korea, Japan and the United States want to increase the level of cooperation against the background of threats from China and North Korea.