Thought leaders in East Asia have stepped up pressure for the ‘forced labour’ issue between South Korea and Japan dating back to the latter’s occupation of the former at the beginning of the 20th century to be resolved urgently. As great power rivalry intensifies in East and North East Asia and China emerges as the regional hegemon, South Korean diplomat and former ambassador to the USA Ahn Ho-young is among the leading voices arguing that it is important for both Seoul and Tokyo to take steps to resolve the forced labour issue because the costs of compromising will be more than offset by the huge strategic gains for both sides.

The least problematic way to resolve the dilemma posed by the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling in 2018 in favour of Korean citizens rounded up to work for Japanese firms during the occupation, he suggests, would be for the governments and industries of both countries to create a fund to provide third-party compensation for the victims of forced labour on behalf of the defendant Japanese companies.

Meanwhile, since he took office in May 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has articulated his concern at the challenge to the post-World War II rules-based international order. South Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy released in December 2022 made it clear that to prevent the disruption of the world order, South Korea would need to work with its closest neighbour, Japan. In fact, the three new strategic documents ~ National Security Strategy, National Defence Strategy, and Defence Build-up Programme ~ released by Tokyo around the same time as the Korean IndoPacific strategy showed just how convergent both countries’ strategic and economic interests are.

Against this backdrop, Seoul has in recent times prioritised addressing the dilemma over the forced labour issue while taking steps to manage the domestic blowback. President Yoon deputed his Foreign Minister to personally meet and hear out the views of the victims of forced labour and their families, and to reassure them that their pain had not been forgotten.

This was followed up by President Yoon visiting Japan in March to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ~ which was the first meeting in Japan between the two countries’ leaders in twelve years. On the forced labour issue, Mr Yoon said that Seoul would try to compensate the victims through the suggested third-party fund and would not seek reimbursement from defendant Japanese companies.

Mr Kishida agreed to address Tokyo’s ban on the export of materials to Korean semiconductor manufacturers but did not go any further than his predecessors on the forced labour issue/third-party fund. The volatile situation on the Korean Peninsula given North Korea’s highly unpredictable behaviour and China’s ominous behind-the-scenes presence make it necessary for East Asia’s most affluent democracies to bury the past.