Japan Refuses to Budge on Its Perception of History and Inherits the Position of Previous Cabinets

Prime Minister Kishida Announces Japan’s Position: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shares the Japanese government’s position on the South Korean government’s solution to the compensation for victims drafted and forced into labor under Japanese occupation with reporters in the prime minister’s residence on the evening of March 6. Reuters-Yonhap News

The South Korean government announced its final plan to compensate the victims who were drafted and forced into labor by Japan. Despite opposition from the public, the government decided to provide compensation with funds from a third party, but it was not enough to bring about any sincere response from Japan. After the South Korean government’s announcement, the Japanese government announced that it would inherit the position of previous cabinets without any new apologies for the forced draft. The Japan Business Federation, which reportedly planned to take part in building the funds in the place of the defendants--corporations responsible for the forced mobilization, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries--did not release any statement or plan on its participation.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended a session of the Committee on Budget in the House of Councillors on March 6 and spoke on the South Korean government’s solution to compensate victims of the forced requisition, released by Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin. Prime Minister Kishida said that the solution would put Japan’s relations with South Korea back on a good footing and shared his intention to closely communicate with President Yoon Suk-yeol to develop bilateral relations. However, as for Japan’s understanding of history, he simply mentioned that the Japanese government has, in general, inherited the position of previous cabinets and that it would continue to do so in the future. When he met the press in the prime minister’s residence on Monday evening, Prime Minister Kishida once again stressed that the Japanese government assumed the overall position of previous cabinets when it came to its perception of history, including the South Korea-Japan joint declaration of 1998.

The joint declaration of 1998 was announced by President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and is also referred to as the Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi joint declaration. The declaration states Prime Minister Obuchi’s “deep remorse and heartfelt apology” for colonial rule.

However, after Shinzo Abe’s second cabinet in 2012, Japan made a series of attempts to weaken the significance of the joint declaration. Former prime minister Abe stirred controversy by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine and making remarks distorting historical facts. He even visited a Hashima Island (a.k.a. Battleship Island) exhibition, criticized for the distorted interpretation of Korean victims of forced labor, and argued that the accusations of forced labor were a groundless and underhanded plot. The Yoshihide Suga cabinet that succeeded Abe also decided to omit “military” from the term “military comfort women.”

In addition, Prime Minister Kishida made a general comment that he would follow in the footsteps of previous cabinets without expressing any new position. He did not budge from the previous position--that the compensation for the forced requisition was already resolved with the claims agreement signed by South Korea and Japan in 1965 and that the Japanese government had no reason to state an apology since the latest litigation was also a problem that South Korea should resolve domestically.

As for measures to get Japanese corporations to participate in securing the funds from a third-party, the Japanese government drew the line stating that contributions from Japanese businesses were not a precondition in the South Korean government measures and that it had no particular position on the voluntary donations by civilians or private corporations in Japan and overseas. Earlier, the Japanese press reported discussions on having the Japan Business Federation take the place of the defendants in the litigation, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel, and take part in creating the funds. However, the Japan Business Federation did not release a statement on contributions to the fund on Monday.

The Japanese government explained that the lifting of export regulations on materials for semiconductors and reincluding South Korea in its whitelist of nations were issues separate from the compensation for forced labor and announced that Japan was asking South Korea for appropriate actions, including suspending the pursuit of a resolution from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the issue of export control. The Japanese government said no decision has been made on inviting President Yoon Suk-yeol to the G7 summit, which will be held in Hiroshima this coming May.