Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) applauded plans announced by South Korea to compensate Japan’s forced wartime labour victims, as President Joe Biden hailed the deal as a “historic breakthrough” between two American allies on Monday.
South Korea has looked to forge closer ties with Japan to counter nuclear-armed North Korea. The United States has described its trilateral ties with Japan and South Korea as essential for Indo-Pacific regional stability.
“Two of our closest allies, South Korea and Japan, have reached a historic breakthrough,” Joe Biden said on Twitter.
“The US stands with the people of both countries as we all move towards a safer, more secure, and more prosperous future.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States appreciated Seoul and Tokyo “for their courage and vision and asked the international community to join our celebration of this momentous achievement.”
Strained relations between Japan and South Korea
Japan-South Korea relations have long been strained over Japan’s brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
Nearly 780,000 Koreans were mobilized into forced labour by Japan during the 35-year-long occupation, according to data from South Korea, not including women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin said that Seoul plans to take money from major companies in South Korea that benefited from a 1965 reparations agreement with Tokyo and use it to compensate victims.
Victims have criticized the proposed plan as it falls far short of their demand for a complete apology from Tokyo and direct compensation from the Japanese companies involved.
