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Japanese and Korean Perspectives on the Issue of Forced Labor in the Asia-Pacific War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Yano Hideki ,
Kim Yeong-hwan ,
Sven Saaler ,
Dong Jiacheng  and
Yannick Muellhaupt
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Abstract

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The issue of forced labor during the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945) remains a stone of contention in Japanese-Korean relations. While the governments of the two countries seem to put the issue aside in order to improve economic and military ties, civil society in both countries remains suspicious. The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus here introduces the positions of representatives of two civil society organizations from South Korea and Japan, respectively, explaining why the government approach to address historical injustices remains unsatisfactory.

Keywords

Japanese-Korean relationsforced laborwartime mobilizationAsia-Pacific Warcivil society
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 21 , Issue 10 , September 2023 , e5
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2023

References

Notes

1 Among the numerous titles on this subject, those with particular relevance to Japan include: Aaron William Moore, Bombing the City: Civilian Accounts of the Air War in Britain and Japan, 1939–1945 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018); Paul H. Kratoska, Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire. Unknown Histories (London: Routledge, 2005); Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn B. Young, eds., Bombing Civilians. A Twentieth-Century History (New York: The New Press, 2009).

2 See William Underwood, “Names, Bones and Unpaid Wages (1): Reparations for Korean Forced Labor in Japan,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 4, Issue 9 (4 September 2006), https://apjjf.org/-William-Underwood/2219/article.html; William Underwood, “Names, Bones and Unpaid Wages (2): Seeking Redress for Korean Forced Labor,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 4, Issue 9 (4 September 2006), https://apjjf.org/-William-Underwood/2225/article.html; William Underwood, “New Era for Japan-Korea History Issues: Forced Labor Redress Efforts Begin to Bear Fruit,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 6, Issue 3 (3 March 2008), https://apjjf.org/-William-Underwood/2689/article.html; Satoko Oka Norimatsu, “Amidst an Explosion of Anti-Korean Hate: Thoughts on Overcoming Colonialism and Bringing Peace to the Korean Peninsula,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 17, Issue 21, No. 3 (1 November 2019), https://apjjf.org/2019/21/Norimatsu.html; Sven Saaler, “Demolition Men: The Unmaking of a Memorial Commemorating Wartime Forced Laborers in Gunma (Japan),” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20, Issue 16, No. 14 (15 September 2022), https://apjjf.org/2022/16/Saaler.html. On labor mobilization in colonial Korea in general, see Tonomura Masaru, Chōsenjin Kyōsei Renkō (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2012); Totsuka Etsurō, ‘Chōyōkō Mondai’ to wa Nani ka? Kankoku Daihō-in Hanketsu ga Tou Mono (Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 2019); Hatano Sumio, ‘Chōyōkō‘ Mondai to wa Nani ka: Chōsenjin Rōmudōin no Jittai to Nikkan Tairitsu (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 2020).

3 See “Zaisan Oyobi Seikyūken ni Kan Suru Mondai no Kaiketsu Narabi ni Keizai Kyōryoku ni Kan Suru Nipponkoku to Daikanminkoku to no aida no Kyōtei,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (22 June 1965), https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/treaty/pdfs/A-S40-293_1.pdf; English version: Tanaka Akihiko (project leader), “Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Co-operation between Japan and the Republic of Korea (Tokyo, June 22, 1965),” ‘The World and Japan’ Database - Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations, https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/JPKR/19650622.T9E.html.

4 Emphasis added. Japan does not entertain diplomatic relations with North Korea. In 2002, the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration was signed when Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro visited Pyonyang. See Koizumi Junichiro and Kim Jong-Il “Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (17 September 2002), https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/n_korea/pmv0209/pyongyang.html. In this Declaration, Japan apologized for the colonial rule, but otherwise, it has not been implemented until today, and no compensation has been paid by Japan to North Korea.

5 Some victims received compensation in the 1970s, after the South Korean government had passed the Law Concerning Claims for Compensation Against Japan in 1974. These included 8,552 victims of forced labor. More victims received compensation from the Korean government in later years. See Totsuka, ‘Chōyōkō Mondai,‘ 59 and ch. 1.

6 See Saaler, “Demolition Men.”

7 Ibid.

8 Song Jung-A and Kana Inagaki, “Why Japan-South Korea Relations Have Soured,” Financial Times, 28 August 2019, https://www.ft.com/content/94ce21dc-c584-11e9a8e9-296ca66511c9.

9 See Joint Action for Resolution of the Forced Labour Issue and Settlement of Past Issues, “Closing our Eyes to History and Leaving the Victims Behind is not a Solution!,” trans. Peace Philosophy Centre, 7 March 2023, www.peacephilosophy.blogspot.com/2023/03/statement-closing-our-eyes-to-history.html; Norimatsu Satoko, “Yoon Suk-yeol's ‘Solution’ for Forced Mobilization Tramples on History and Korean Dignity,” The Ryukyu Shimpo English News, 29 March 2023, https://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/entry-1685549.html.

10 See Kishida Fumio and Yun Byung-Se, “Announcement by Foreign Ministers of Japan and the Republic of Korea at the Joint Press Occasion,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (28 December 2015), https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/kr/page4e_000364.html.

11 Hayashi Yoshimasa, “Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi's Comment on the Government of the Republic of Korea's Announcement Regarding the Issue of Former Civilian Workers from the Korean Peninsula (CWKs),” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (6 March 2023), https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/kr/page1e_000579.html.

12 See Joe Biden, “Statement from President Joe Biden on Japan-ROK Announcement,” The White House (5 March 2023), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/05/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-japan-rok-announcement.

13 The China-Japan-Korea History Textbook Tri-National Committee, ed., A History to Open the Future: Modern East Asian History and Regional Reconciliation (Honolulu: School of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2015).

14 Eckhardt Fuchs, Tokushi Kasahara, and Sven Saaler, eds., A New Modern History of East Asia (Göttingen: V&R Unipress, 2018), https://www.gei.de/en/research/publications/details/eckhardt-fuchs-tokushi-kasahara-sven-saaler-eds-a-new-modern-history-of-east-asia.

15 On the idea of “German physics” or “Aryan physics,” see Philip Ball, Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics Under Hitler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014); Alan Beyerchen, Scientists under Hitler: Politics and the Physics Community in the Third Reich (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977).

16 “The Sado Complex of Heritage Mines, Primarily Gold Mines,” UNESCO World Heritage Convention (22 November 2010), https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5572.

17 Tsujimura Tetsuo, “Dai 140 Kai Kokkai Sangiin Yosan Iinkai Dai 8-gō Heisei 9-nen 3-gatsu 12-nichi,” National Diet Search System Online (12 March 1997), 11, https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/#/detailPDF?minId=114015261X00819970312&page=11&spkNum=87&current=2.

18 Tsujimura Tetsuo once served as the head of the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, the department of the Ministry of Education that oversees the affairs of elementary and secondary educational institutions in Japan.

19 Murayama Tomiichi, “Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama ‘On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the War's End’,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (15 August 1995), https://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/press/pm/murayama/9508.html; Obuchi Keizō and Kim Dae Jung, “Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration. A New Japan-Republic of Korea Partnership Towards the Twenty-First Century,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (8 October 1998), https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/korea/joint9810.html.

20 International Labour Conference (ILO) 87th Session 1999, Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. General Report and Observations Concerning Particular Countries (Geneva: International Labour Office, 12 March 1999), 130.

21 Kōno Yōhei, “Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (4 August 1993), https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/rp/page25e_000343.html.

22 See Saaler, “Demolition Men.”

23 See Takazane Yasunori, “Should ‘Gunkanjima’ Be a World Heritage Site? - The Forgotten Scars of Korean Forced Labor,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 28, No. 1 (13 July 2015), https://apjjf.org/2015/13/28/Takazane-Yasunori/4340.html.

24 “Report on the Implementation Status of the Interpretation Strategy. Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (Japan) (ID: 1483),” UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Appendix 1 Interpretation Strategy 2.

25 UNESCO, “World Heritage – 39th World Heritage Committee 2015-07-05 15:00-18:50,” YouTube Video, 30:50-32:03, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnp-FyTHr-s&t=1852s.

26 Nikolai Johnsen, “Katō Kōko's Meiji Industrial Revolution – Forgetting Forced Labor to Celebrate Japan's World Heritage Sites – Part 1,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 19, Issue 23, No. 1 (1 December 2021), https://apjjf.org/2021/23/Johnsen.html; Nikolai Johnsen, “Katō Kōko's Meiji Industrial Revolution – Forgetting Forced Labor to Celebrate Japan's World Heritage Sites – Part 2,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 19, Issue 24, No. 5 (15 December 2021), https://apjjf.org/2021/24/Johnsen.html.

27 “Inscription of the ‘Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining’ on the UNESCO's World Heritage List (Statement by the Japanese Delegation at the 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO),” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (14 July 2015), https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/pr_pd/mcc/page3_001285.html.

28 “MOFA Spokesperson's Commentary on State of Conservation Report on Implementation of Follow-up Measures Concerning Inscription of Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution on World Heritage List,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Republic of Korea (13 December 2022), https://www.mofa.go.kr/eng/brd/m_5676/view.do?seq=322115&page=1.

29 For further discussions on Gunkanjima see: David Palmer, “Gunkanjima / Battleship Island, Nagasaki: World Heritage Historical Site or Urban Ruins Tourist Attraction?,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 16, Issue 1, No. 4 (1 January 2018), https://apjjf.org/2018/01/Palmer.html.

30 ICOMOS, “Report on the UNESCO/ICOMOS Mission to the Industrial Heritage Information Centre Related to the World Heritage Property ‘Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Ship-Building and Coal Mining’ (Japan) (C 1484) 7 to 9 June 2021,” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2 July 2021), 6, 19, 21, 22, https://whc.unesco.org/en/documents/188249.

31 “Decision 44 COM 7B.30. Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (Japan) (C 1484),” UNESCO World Heritage Convention Online (2021), https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/7748. This document refers to the World Heritage Convention's “Decisions adopted during the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee (Fuzhou (China) / Online meeting, 2021)” (WHC/21/44.COM/18) of 31 July 2021, which can be downloaded as a PDF from the same site (https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/7748).

32 “Kankoku Hanpatsu de Sado Ginzan no Sekai Isan Suisen Miokuri e… ‘Nankin’ dewa Nihon ga Hanpatsu ‘Gyaku no Tachiba ni,‘” Yomiuri Shimbun, 20 January 2022, https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20220119-OYT1T50359. In English see “Japan to Delay Recommending Sado Gold Mine for World Heritage List,” The Japan News by the Yomiuri Shimbun (20 January 2022), https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/politics-government/20220120-10082.

33 “Sado Gold Mine to be Recommended as World Heritage Site,” The Japan News by the Yomiuri Shimbun, 28 January 2022, https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20220128-10883.

34 “Sado Ginzan no Suisen Kettei, Kankoku Shuchō o Gekiha Seyo Sekai Isan Tōroku e ‘Rekishi-sen Chīmu’ Fukkatsu… Shōko o Age ‘Fakuto’ de Oshikaese Abe-shi ga Kishida Shushō ni ēru,” zakzak, 29 January 2022, https://www.zakzak.co.jp/article/20220129-RXNOBQQ7IRMR7FACUR353SJMBA.

35 Uchida Kyōji, “Kishida Shushō, Kankoku to Tenbō Naki ‘Rekishisen’ e: ‘Sado Kinzan’ Sekai Bunka Isan ni Suisen, Tsuzuku ‘Sengo Saiaku no Kankei,‘” 47 News, 3 February 2022, https://nordot.app/860781870815969280?c=39546741839462401.

36 Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong at the Foreign Ministry meeting of Japan and Korean. See Ahn Sung-mi, “FM Chung Protests Japan's Sado Mine Heritage Push in his First Call with Hayashi,” The Korea Herald, 3 February 2022, https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220203000874. For Japan's response: Hayashi Yoshimasa, “Extraordinary Press Conference by Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Q&A Session (28 January 2022), https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/kaiken/kaiken24e_000100.html.

37 House of Representatives Budget Committee, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno. See “Sado Ginzan ‘Chūshō ni wa Kizen to Taiō‘ Matsuno Kanbō Chōkan,” Jiji Press, 3 February 2022.

38 “Japan's Sado Mine Unlikely to Make 2023 UNESCO World Heritage List,” The Japan Times, 28 July 2022, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/28/national/sado-mine-unesco-world-heritage-submission.

39 Sawada Katsumi, “‘Sadogashima no Kinzan’ Sekai Bunka Isan e no Tōroku Rainen wa Muzukashī Jōsei,” Twitter Post, 28 July 2022, 7:13 a.m., https://twitter.com/sawadakatsumi/status/1552416834796032000.

40 For a further discussion on the Sado Gold Mines see: Nikolai Johnsen, “The Sado Gold Mine and Japan's ‘History War’ Versus the Memory of Korean Forced Laborers,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 20, Issue 5, No. 1 (1 March 2022), https://apjjf.org/2022/5/Johnsen.html.

41 For the Ename Charter see “Who We Are,” Ename Center Online, https://www.enamecenter.org/EEC2013/index-E.html.

42 “The ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites. Reviewed and Revised Under the Auspices of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation,” 16th Assembly of ICOMOS Quebec, Canada (4 October 2008), 9, http://icip.icomos.org/downloads/ICOMOS_Interpretation_Charter_ENG_04_10_08.pdf.

43 ICOMOS, “Report on the UNESCO/ICOMOS Mission,” 2.

44 Simon Denyer, “New South Korean Court Ruling Angers Japan, Deepening Crisis Between America's Closest Pacific Allies,” The Washington Post, 29 November 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/s-korea-court-orders-japans-mitsubishi-to-pay-compensation-for-wartime-forced-labor/2018/11/28/4f0a6616-f37e-11e8-9240-e8028a62c722_story.html.

45 Wani Kentarō, “Moto Chōyō-kō Soshō Mondai to Nikkan Seikyū-ken Kyōtei,” JSIL Japanese Society of International Law (Society Expert Comment, 29 July 2017), https://jsil.jp/archives/expert/2019-8. The 1965 Settlement Agreement is available at “Zaisan Oyobi,” MOFA, www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/treaty/pdfs/A-S40-293_1.pdf.

46 “Abe Eyes Option of International Court Arbitration Over S. Korean Forced Labor Ruling,” The Mainichi, 1 November 2018, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181101/p2a/00m/0na/013000c.

47 Kōno Tarō, “Regarding the Decision by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea, Confirming the Existing Judgments on the Japanese Company (Statement by Foreign Minister Taro Kono),” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (30 October 2018), https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press4e_002204.html.

48 “Shūgiin Yosan-i no Giron ‘Chōyō-kō Hanketsu’ Nado,” NHK News, 1 November 2018, https://www.nhk.or.jp/politics/articles/statement/10427.html.

49 Baba Nobuyuki, “Shitsumon Honbun Jōhō. ‘Kyōsei Unkō’ ‘Kyōsei Rōdō’ to Iu Hyōgen ni kan Suru Shitsumon Chūisho,” The House of Representatives, Japan (16 April 2021), https://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_shitsumon.nsf/html/shitsumon/a204098.htm; Ōshima Tadamori, “Tōben Honbun Jōhō. Shūgiin Giin Baba Nobuyuki-kun Teishutsu ‘Kyōsei Unkō’ ‘Kyōsei Rōdō’ to Iu Hyōgen ni kan Suru Shitsumon ni Taishi, Besshi Tōbensho wo Sōfu Suru,” The House of Representatives, Japan (27 April 2021), https://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_shitsumon.nsf/html/shitsumon/b204098.htm; see also Saaler, “Demolition Men.”

50 Joyce Lee, “Calls for Boycott of Japan Grow in South Korea as Diplomatic Row Simmers,” Reuters, 5 July 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-japan-laborers-boycott-idUSKCN1U00FZ.

51 Kokumin Chōyō-rei. Gunju Kaisha Chōyō Kisoku. Kankei Kikei (Tokyo: Ministry of Health and Welfare/Labor Bureau, March 1944), 28, https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1454681/1/1.

52 ILO, Report of the Committee of Experts, 129-30.

53 “Constitution,” UNESCO Online (last updated 24 June 2022), https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution.

54 Choe Sang-Hun and Motoko Rich, “The $89,000 Verdict Tearing Japan and South Korea apart,” The New York Times, 13 February 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/world/asia/south-korea-slave-forced-labor-japan-world-war-two.html.

The name of the company was Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation from 2013 to 2019.

55 “Japan's surrender finally ended World War II in 1945 and liberated Korea. Lee went back to Kamaishi to collect his wages, only to find the steel mill had been bombed to rubble. He later found out from the company's files — published by a Japanese academic — that only 23.8 yen ($0.20) had been saved in his name.” From: Lee Suh-Yoon, “Wartime Forced Laborer Reflects on Court Victory,” Korea Times, updated 22 November 2018, https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/04/251_259058.html.

56 Lee Min-Young, “A talk from Heart to Heart: Wartime Forced Labor Victim Lee Chun-shik,” Korea Times, 21 November 2018, https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/02/720_259101.html.

57 The Agreement was signed as a supplement to the Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea. The original document can be viewed at “Zaisan Oyobi Seikyūken,” MOFA, https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/treaty/pdfs/A-S40-293_1.pdf.

58 Following up the 2018 ruling, in September 2021, the Supreme Court of South Korea ordered the liquidation of Mitsubishi's assets in order to allow compensation for the victims of forced labor. In August 2022, the liquidation was postponed and remains undetermined until now. See “South Korea's Top Court Orders Mitsubishi Heavy to Pay Compensation for Wartime Labor,” Japan Times, 29 November 2018, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/29/national/crime-legal/south-koreas-top-court-orders-mitsubishi-heavy-pay-compensation-wartime-labor and “South Korean Top Court Postpones Decision on Wartime Labor Asset Liquidation,” Japan Times, 20 August 2022, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/20/national/japan-south-korea-wartime-labor-decision-postpone.

59 Jung In-Hwan, “Fears of ‘Breakdown’ in Korea-Japan Ties Over Forced Labor Case Miss Point, Says Postwar Litigation Specialist,” Hankyoreh, 4 August 2022, https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/PRINT/1053527.html.

60 “Supreme Court Rules Japanese Firms Must Pay for Forced Labor,” The Chosunilbo, 25 May 2012, http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/05/25/2012052501084.html.

61 Chang Se-Jeong and Shim Kyu-Seok, “Forced Laborers Hope Deliberate Delay by Court is Over,” Korea JoongAng Daily, 24 August 2018, https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3052321.

62 Lee Young-Hee and Esther Chung, “Put Off Liquidations, Korea's Envoy to Tokyo Proposes,” Korea JoongAn Daily, 9 August 2022, https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/08/09/national/diplomacy/korea-japan-forced-labor/20220809150701865.html. Kim Yeong-Hwan uses a clever expression: “freezing liquidation” (genkinka wo touketsu suru).

63 See Lee Jung-Youn, “Japan Gave $1 Compensation to War Crime Victims: Civic Group,” The Korea Herald, 5 August 2022, https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220805000516.