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| President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a meeting with delegations from Japan Business Federation at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Yoon Suk-yeol government has kick-started its efforts to restore Korea's soured relations with Japan, after President Yoon expressed his intention to be more active in mending ties after Tokyo's upper house election.
According to the presidential office, Monday, Yoon received a visit from delegations from the Japan Business Federation, also known as "Keidanren." Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura and four ranking officials of the federation attended, and Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Huh Chang-soo also joined the meeting.
The presidential office said Yoon and the delegation discussed ways to energize economic networks between the two countries. Before visiting Yoon, Keidanren and the FKI hosted a Korea-Japan Business Council meeting, after nearly three years of a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Keidanren's visit to Yoon came just days after the president expressed his intention to be more active in mending ties with Japan.
During his attendance at the 2022 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Spain last week, Yoon told reporters that he wants to "resolve issues that stand in the way of improving Seoul-Tokyo ties as soon as possible after Japan's upper house election."
Along with business ties, the government is expediting its efforts to address the history-related conflict between the two countries, which is the fundamental reason for the chilly bilateral relations.
According to government sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the first meeting of a consultative body between government officials, experts and victims of Japan's wartime forced labor practices during World War II. The closed-door meeting was presided over by First Vice Minister Cho Hyun-dong.
The meeting holds significance because compensation for victims is one of the main reasons that thwarted Seoul-Tokyo relations. In 2018, the Supreme Court in Korea found Japanese companies liable to pay compensation for the victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.
In response, the Japanese government launched restrictions on exports of key industrial materials to Korea, while the Korean public countered by boycotting Japanese products.
As the companies, which include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel, refused to pay compensation, the court is expected to issue orders on liquidating their seized assets in Korea as early as this autumn. This is regarded as a "red line" that Tokyo warned Seoul, saying that it will regret crossing.
To avoid further aggravation in the bilateral ties, the Korean government is reportedly considering paying the compensation on behalf of those companies, and collecting them by establishing a fund participated in by Japanese firms.
Due to this, however, concerns are rising that the government may snub victims' voices in order to mend ties with Japan.
Legal representatives of victims participating in the meeting said in a statement that "we have strong suspicions that the Korean government may attempt to justify its predetermined plan by holding this meeting" adding they "express deep regrets for this situation."
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