Yoon Deok-min, Ambassador to Japan: "Forced Mobilization Japanese Companies' Asset Liquidation Imminent"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 16th, Yoon Deok-min, the newly appointed South Korean Ambassador to Japan, stated that "the liquidation of seized Japanese company assets is imminent" in relation to the compensation lawsuit for forced laborers during the Japanese colonial period.

Upon his arrival in Japan, Ambassador Yoon told reporters at Tokyo Haneda Airport that "due to the aging of the victims, the issue needs to be resolved quickly."

He referred to the 2015 Korea-Japan comfort women agreement, saying, "Although 36 out of 47 surviving comfort women accepted the agreement, 11 did not, which made the agreement quite regrettably difficult," and explained that the public-private consultative group is taking the comfort women agreement as a lesson to listen to the opinions of victims and experts and seek solutions to the forced labor issue.

Ambassador Yoon said, "I feel a strong sense of responsibility and mission coming to Japan as the Korean Ambassador during a difficult time," and added, "President Yoon Suk-yeol also gave me a message yesterday, expressing his will to 'improve Korea-Japan relations to the best period as soon as possible.'"

He stated, "I believe Korea and Japan are the most important partners sharing strategic interests," and "If we pool our wisdom, Korea-Japan relations will recover to the good times again."

He then quoted the proverb, "It takes two hands to clap," saying, "No problem can be solved by the power of one country alone." This was interpreted as a remark implying that not only South Korea but also Japan must make efforts to resolve the cooled Korea-Japan relations.

Ambassador Yoon also mentioned the incident of former Prime Minister Abe Shinz?, who passed away on the 8th during the House of Councillors election campaign, saying, "First of all, I would like to offer my condolences to the deceased," and "I express my sincere sympathy and condolences to the bereaved family and the Japanese people."

Having served as the President of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, Ambassador Yoon received his letter of appointment from President Yoon along with Ambassador Jeong Jae-ho to China and Ambassador Hwang Jun-guk to the UN the day before.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.