South Korea proposes joint funding for wartime labor redress

June 19, 2019

Seoul--The South Korean government made public on Wednesday a proposal it put forward to Japan calling for companies from both countries to jointly fund compensation for South Koreans in finalized wartime labor lawsuits.

But Takeshi Osuga, press secretary for Japan's Foreign Ministry, said in Tokyo the same day that Tokyo has rejected the proposal.

A statement from the South Korean government said that if Japan had accepted the proposal, South Korea would have been ready to consider moving forward with arbitration procedures under a 1965 bilateral agreement on claims and property as requested by Japan.

It was the first time that the South Korean government has offered a proposal in response to a Japanese request for action against the South Korean Supreme Court's decision last year that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Koreans for wartime labor. Jiji Press