South Korea moves to resolve WWII dispute with Japan that troubles tech supply chains
- Reference: 1678168690
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/07/japan_south_korea_trade_relations/
- Source link:
The dispute centers on Japan's occupation of the then-united Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. During World War II, Japan used Koreans for forced labor – including sexual slavery. South Korea has since sought reparations.
But no agreement has ever been reached.
[1]
In the absence of a settlement between the two countries, South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should pay reparations to Koreans whom it enslaved, or to their descendants.
[2]
[3]
The company made no payments and Japan protested the decision by removing South Korea from the list of nations it affords preferential access to some exports. That decision was aimed at supplies essential for the manufacture of semiconductors and displays – commodities that South Korean companies excel at producing.
South Korea commenced action in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in response but – as often happens in that forum – years passed without a resolution.
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Tech supply chains have been strained since 2019. And the strain in Japan/South Korea relations has remained – and irked allies.
Monday's news that South Korea proposed a fund to pay reparations, thereby removing a source of tension with Japan, therefore went down so well that US president Joe Biden made a [5]statement hailing it as "a groundbreaking new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States' closest allies."
[6]White House ban on US chip cash going into China ruffles South Koreans
[7]Japan joins ranks of nations plotting smackdown for Apple, Google
[8]Asia rules the mobile world: more users, more often, generating more cash
[9]US pressures Asian allies to join crusade against Chinese chipmakers
Korean media, meanwhile, [10]report that the rapprochement will be accompanied by renewed activity at the WTO, and that any talks will likely take place in a more convivial atmosphere.
If that makes for slightly easier trade relations – and more efficient supply chains – Japanese and Korean industry alike will welcome the change.
However that outcome is far from certain. Protests against the proposed reparations fund have already taken place in South Korea, as some feel the plan means Japanese corporations won't have to atone for their past misdeeds. ®
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[5] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/05/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-japan-rok-announcement/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/02/chips_china_ban_korea/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/japan_mobile_market_reform_recommendations/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/16/state_of_mobile_2023/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/09/us_china_japan_chips/
[10] https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230306006200320
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The term "war crime" doesn't do justice to the horrors they inflicted on people.
It would be amazing if positive steps could be taken between SK and Japan. Perhaps even being a small glimmer of light across the globe, as there are many, many such points off contention between nations - some of which are extremely volatile regions,
I'll point out though, that unfortunately it is one thing for reparations to be made on a state level, but an entirely different thing for the effect to apply culturally. Differences in culture, their negative effect, are in existence that are tens of generation old.
Japan never compensated allied POW's for war crimes, basically swept under the carpet to stop the Soviet expansion in the pacific. Maybe time to resurrect claims with all slavery activism currently making news.
A bit ridiculous to make any WW2 related claims when everyone involved is dead now. (Same for US slavery.)
How far back do we go?
South Koreans want reparations from 80 years ago.
The US effectively wiped out the majority of the indigenous people.
Caribbean nations want reparations from 300 years ago, even though many times more Europeans were indentured by those regimes (effectively slavery, but with a potential release date).
Protestants were persecuted by Catholics and visa versa at various points in European history.
The Vikings enslaved or killed a good proportion of everyone they came into contact with.
The Holy Roman Empire enslaved people from most of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
History says remember these atrocities so that we may learn from them and not repeat them.
Some decedents want financial gains, now, obsessed with the past, rather than working for their own future.
And we have the opposite effect in Europe and the US at the moment with large scale economic migrations from more impoverished areas.
Global society is becoming more aware of inequality via the instant communications, which is a good thing, but it is also driving a sense of entitlement.
However, if society is wanting more economic equality then it must also embrace equality in other areas. How equal is someone in Sub-Saharan Africa, wanting 1st world medicine, but practicing 13th century birth control (still pursued by 2 major religions), with maybe a dozen children in a landscape that cannot support them, relying on food aid?
The 1st world cannot enforce 1st world societal norms, such as responsible birth control, in exchange for 1st world medicine, for example. So, I cannot see an equal future, more than I can see the unequal present and past.
I'm ready for the flames; but seriously is there an answer? Surely, this must be as large an issue as climate change?
Re: How far back do we go?
Economic reparations are pretty much impossible to calculate, but the major wounds that need healing are cultural ones. Sometimes, even though being far from enough, things like a formal apology, a national monument and a new national holiday can go a long way.
Re: How far back do we go?
"The 1st world cannot enforce 1st world societal norms, such as responsible birth control, in exchange for 1st world medicine, for example."
Define the norms.
There are plenty of "1st World" nation's where abortion is illegal, contraception is difficult to get and it's the woman that takes the full burden if she's gets pregnant
Sort our own shit out before patronising others
Btw.
This is EXACTLY what the Gates Foundation are trying to improve.
I really hope the South Korea and Japan can resolve their conflict. Especially now with the rise of China as a mutual adversary.
So the descendants of people that did terrible things are expected to pay money to the descendants of the people they did them too.
Which means the person who didn't commit the crime is expected to pay someone who wasn't a victim of that crime.
What problem does this actually solve? If they acknowledge the mistakes of the past and apologise for the actions of the past what more can they actually do? Why should someone be punished for something they didn't do?
Having said all that if there are people that have suffered or are still suffering due to these actions then that's a different story but proving that would be very difficult. As someone else pointed out how far do you go back? Those pyramids didn't build themselves.
Japan already paid reparations in 1965 and I'm pretty sure Japan hasn't re-invaded South Korea since then.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Basic_Relations_Between_Japan_and_the_Republic_of_Korea
Denial of nonetheless well documented war crimes by Japan doesn't make it easy.