Factbox: S.Korea, Japan seek reset on decades of historical disputes

A police officer stands guard close to Japan and South Korea nationwide flags at lodge, the place South Korean embassy in Japan is holding the reception to mark the fiftieth anniversary of normalisation of ties between Seoul and Tokyo, in Tokyo June 22, 2015. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/Information

SEOUL, July 18 (Reuters) – Efforts to resolve historic disputes between South Korean and Japan have been renewed underneath new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, with each nations vowing to enhance ties.

– Relations between the 2 North Asian U.S. allies have been strained over disputes courting to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. Koreans accuse Japan of forcing ladies to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese navy and utilizing pressured labour, amongst different abuses.

– Numerous measures through the years have tried to resolve the problems. Japan says the matter of any compensation for pressured labour was settled underneath a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties and offering South Korea with financial help.

– In 2015, South Korea and Japan reached a settlement underneath which Tokyo issued an official apology to “consolation ladies” who say they had been enslaved in wartime brothels, and offered 1 billion yen ($9.23 million) to a fund to assist the victims. However then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in determined to dissolve the fund in 2018, successfully scrapping the settlement as he stated it did to not do sufficient to think about victims’ considerations.

– In 2018 South Korea’s Supreme Court docket ordered Japan’s Nippon Metal & Sumitomo Metallic Corp (5401.T) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) to compensate some wartime pressured labourers. The court docket is anticipated to make a remaining resolution on liquidating their belongings in August or September, and Tokyo has warned of great repercussions if the orders are enforced.

– Relations deteriorated in 2019 when Japan restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea. On the time Seoul threatened to drag out of an intelligence-sharing cope with Tokyo, however backed down on the final minute underneath strain from the USA, which has pushed for its two allies to fix ties.

– Over time some South Koreans have boycotted Japanese merchandise and cancelled deliberate holidays to the nation. Seoul recurrently lodges complaints over the best way historical past is recounted in some Japanese textbooks, and there have been flare-ups over the “Rising Solar” flag seen as a logo of imperial Japan. Tokyo has accused South Korean leaders of exacerbating tensions to attain political factors.

– The 2 nations even have a territorial dispute over a cluster of windswept volcanic islets, often called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The islets are managed by Seoul with a small contingent of coast guards, and are additionally claimed by Tokyo.

Reporting by Josh Smith; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore

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