Japan Press Weekly

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2019 April 17 - 23 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japanese and S. Korean lawyers jointly hold symposium on wartime forced labor issue

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and the Korean Bar Association on April 20 jointly held a symposium in Tokyo in regard to last year’s South Korean top court’s rulings ordering Japanese firms to pay compensations to Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan.

Lawyer Yamamoto Seita in the keynote report said that currently the Japanese and South Korean governments have a similar interpretation of the 1965 bilateral agreement on the settlement of problems concerning claims: individual victims still have the right to claim for damages.

At a panel discussion session in the symposium, as a panelist, South Korean lawyer Choi Bong-tae stressed that the essence of wartime Japan’s forced labor issue is to find the appropriate action to be taken for the violation of human rights. He said that in this context, the need is for the two governments to hold discussions which focus on measures to provide compensation to forced labor victims.

Another panelist, Meiji Gakuin University Professor Abe Hiromi explained that modern international law is currently expanding in the field of human rights protection and said that the South Korean supreme court rulings were an example of such developments in East Asia.

Past related articles:
> Korean top court orders Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay damages to wartime forced laborers [November 30, 2018]
> Shii calls for cool-headed approach to Korean forced laborer issue [November 2, 2018]
>Korean top court orders Japanese steelmaker to compensate ex-Korean forced laborers [October 31, 2018]