Seoul: An elderly South Korean survivor of Japan’s wartime forced labor has accepted a disputed government-led compensation package, according to people familiar with the matter. Lee Choon-shik, 104, has become the third and last surviving victim to collect the compensation and the delayed interest under the “third-party” solution adopted by the Yoon Suk Yeol government in March last year.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee’s decision follows closely on the heels of Yang Geum-deok, another forced labor victim, who took the package from a government-affiliated public fund handling the reparations. However, shortly after the decision was made public, Lee’s son, Lee Chang-hwan, issued a statement objecting to the payout, arguing that his father would never have consented to the compensation. He stated that his father is not in a condition to express his intentions clearly due to age-related issues and delirium, and suggested that his siblings might have influenced the decision.
Lee Choon-shik and Yang Geum-d
eok were among the 15 original plaintiffs who won a 2018 Supreme Court ruling ordering Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate Korean victims for forced labor during World War II. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Kim Seong-ju, who is now deceased, was the first surviving victim to accept the third-party package in May last year. Both Lee and Yang had initially refused to accept the compensation offered by the current government, in protest of Yoon’s decision to exclude the responsible Japanese companies from contributing to the payout.
Their change of heart is now bringing attention to the potential impact on other plaintiffs, all of whom are family members of deceased victims. Yoon, in his effort to improve relations with Tokyo, announced that South Korea would compensate the victims using donations from South Korean companies that benefited from the 1965 post-war bilateral treaty with Japan. Contributions from Japanese companies remain voluntary. Despite Seoul’s
call for voluntary involvement, no donations from Japan have been made, leaving the public foundation handling the compensation underfunded. Japan has refused to comply with the court rulings, maintaining that all compensation matters were settled under the 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties.