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| Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin arrives at the Seoul Bar Association Building in southern Seoul for a meeting with Korean victims of wartime forced labor, Feb. 28. Yonhap |
Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Tuesday met with the families of the victims of wartime forced labor to update them on the state of government consultations with Japan on the long-standing issue of compensation.
Park met with the families to "sufficiently explain the government's diplomatic efforts to come up with a reasonable solution" between Korea and Japan regarding the Supreme Court ruling on forced labor," Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson for the ministry, said during a regular press briefing.
The meeting was arranged for Park to also listen to their opinions on the government's proposal of using a public foundation based in Korea to pay the compensation for Korean victims who won lawsuits against two Japanese firms ― Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. ― in 2018.
Victims and supporting civic groups have rejected the plan, calling for Japan's apology and direct involvement by the accused companies in the compensation process.
"I came here in person to meet and listen to the voices of the families of the victims of wartime forced labor, and to come up with a desirable solution," Park told reporters as he arrived at the meeting held in southern Seoul.
Attending the meeting were families of the victims who worked for Nippon Steel and at facilities in Hiroshima for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Seoul and Tokyo have held several rounds of working-level consultations on ways to resolve the issue. Japan has claimed all reparation issues related to the 1910-45 colonial rule were settled under a 1965 treaty. (Yonhap)
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