The dispute over who should pay for the suffering of Koreans at the height of WWII is at the heart of a downward spiral in relations between South Korea and Japan.
, unsettled claims of historic wrongs are increasingly cropping up around the world.
Polls in both the U.S. and Japan show the idea of paying out present-day dollars for the wrongs of past generations isn’t popular in either country, said Tom Le, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.In the U.S., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pooh-poohed the idea for reparations for slavery at a June congressional hearing, saying: “No one currently alive was responsible for that.
The latest flare-up began with South Korea’s top court ruling in two cases in late 2018 that individual victims could seek damages from Japanese companies Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and go after their assets in South Korea.The rulings reversed earlier decisions by Japanese and some South Korean courts that those claims were settled in 1965 when South Korea and Japan normalized relations.
“These decisions are extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable,” Japan’s foreign minister Taro Kono said in a statement last November, calling the rulings a breach of international law and saying Japan will “examine all possible options” to protect the business interests of Japanese companies.
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