Factbox: South Korea, Japan seek reset on decades of historical disputes
SEOUL (Reuters) – Efforts to resolve historic disputes between South Korean and Japan have been renewed underneath new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, with each international locations vowing to enhance ties.
– Relations between the 2 North Asian U.S. allies have been strained over disputes relationship to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. Koreans accuse Japan of forcing girls to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese army and utilizing compelled labour, amongst different abuses.
– Numerous measures through the years have tried to resolve the problems. Japan says the matter of any compensation for compelled labour was settled underneath a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties and offering South Korea with financial help.
– In 2015, South Korea and Japan reached a settlement underneath which Tokyo issued an official apology to “consolation girls” who say they had been enslaved in wartime brothels, and offered 1 billion yen ($9.23 million) to a fund to assist the victims. However then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in determined to dissolve the fund in 2018, successfully scrapping the settlement as he stated it did to not do sufficient to contemplate victims’ issues.
– In 2018 South Korea’s Supreme Courtroom ordered Japan’s Nippon Metal & Sumitomo Steel Corp and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate some wartime compelled labourers. The courtroom is predicted to make a last resolution on liquidating their belongings in August or September, and Tokyo has warned of great repercussions if the orders are enforced.
– Relations deteriorated in 2019 when Japan restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea. On the time Seoul threatened to drag out of an intelligence-sharing take care of Tokyo, however backed down on the final minute underneath stress from the US, which has pushed for its two allies to fix ties.
– Over time some South Koreans have boycotted Japanese merchandise and cancelled deliberate holidays to the nation. Seoul recurrently lodges complaints over the way in which historical past is recounted in some Japanese textbooks, and there have been flare-ups over the “Rising Solar” flag seen as a logo of imperial Japan. Tokyo has accused South Korean leaders of exacerbating tensions to attain political factors.
– The 2 international locations even have a territorial dispute over a cluster of windswept volcanic islets, often called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The islets are managed by Seoul with a small contingent of coast guards, and are additionally claimed by Tokyo.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
