WASHINGTON — US high diplomat Antony Blinken on Sunday applauded plans introduced by South Korea to compensate victims of Japan’s pressured wartime labor, as Seoul appears to forge nearer ties with Tokyo.
South Korea and Japan are “two of the United States’ most important allies, and we are inspired by the work they have done to advance their bilateral relations,” the Secretary of State stated in an announcement.
The trilateral relationship is “central to our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
“We applaud [Seoul and Tokyo] for their courage and vision, and call on the international community to join our commendation of this momentous achievement.”
The choice by Seoul comes as South Korea and Japan have ramped up safety cooperation within the face of rising threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.
But bilateral ties have lengthy been strained over Tokyo’s brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
Around 780,000 Koreans had been conscripted into pressured labor by Japan throughout the 35-year occupation, in accordance with knowledge from Seoul, not together with girls pressured into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.
Seoul’s plan is to take cash from main South Korean corporations that benefited from a 1965 reparations cope with Tokyo and use it to compensate victims, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin stated.
Victims have criticized the proposal as a result of it falls far in need of their demand for a full apology from Tokyo and direct compensation from the Japanese corporations concerned. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
