Foreign Minister Taro Kono warned that the ruling could damage “the legal foundation of our relationship.”
Japan’s top diplomat said Wednesday that South Korea’s government taking action to resolve a legal dispute stemming from South Korean court rulings on forced labor during Japanese colonial rule is emerging as a key diplomatic priority.
Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in a speech on the country’s diplomatic outlook that the dispute represents deteriorating ties between the two nations. Tokyo is waiting for Seoul to take steps to uphold the 1965 compensation treaty that has served as the legal foundation for bilateral relations, he said.
“The South Korean Supreme Court rulings worry me,” Kono said. “But I’m confident that the South Korean side will handle it appropriately so that the legal foundation of our relationship won’t be damaged, and we will be waiting.”
South Korea’s top court recently ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean plaintiffs who were forced to work at factories and mines during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The court in October ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.
