Korea-Japan Deputy Foreign Ministers Meet in US... Discuss 'Forced Labor Compensation'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] On the 13th, South Korea and Japan held a deputy foreign ministerial meeting in Washington DC, USA, and began high-level consultations on the issue of compensation for forced labor during the Japanese colonial period.

Cho Hyundong, First Vice Foreign Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea, and Takeo Mori, Administrative Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, who visited the US for the Korea-US-Japan Deputy Foreign Ministers' Consultative Meeting, started a bilateral meeting at a hotel in Washington DC at 4 p.m. that day.

The two sides discussed coordination regarding key issues in the forced labor compensation negotiations, such as third-party compensation and Japan's sincere response. This meeting was held ahead of the Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting scheduled around the 18th, coinciding with attendance at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany.

Earlier, to resolve the forced labor compensation issue, the biggest diplomatic issue between Korea and Japan, the government proposed on the 12th of last month that victims who received a final compensation ruling from the Supreme Court be compensated through funds from the third party, the Forced Labor Victims Support Foundation. Since then, successive director-level consultations have been held to pressure Japan for a sincere response, including ▲ participation of Japanese defendant companies in the compensation fund ▲ and a genuine apology.

On the previous day at Dulles Airport, First Vice Minister Cho told reporters regarding Korea-Japan negotiations, "There are parts where opinions have been greatly narrowed down, and parts where they have not yet," adding, "The current situation is to continue additional deputy ministerial or ministerial consultations on the remaining issues."

As South Korea and Japan hold a series of high-level meetings, there are also speculations that the negotiations have entered a critical phase. It is expected that the final bargaining is based on the parts where differences were narrowed at the working-level. The key lies in how progressive a plan Japan brings, while forced labor victims demand a 'result that is not shameful' to the Korean government.

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