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South Koreans sceptical as president offers olive branch to Japan
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South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee arrive at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) in Tokyo, Japan March 16, 2023. (Reuters/ISSEI KATO)
A
s South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol landed in Tokyo on Thursday his plan to patch up relations with Japan faces lingering scepticism at home.
South Korean opposition likely poses little domestic political problem for the conservative Yoon, but could affect how far he is able to go in winning cooperation from Japan, experts said.
Yoon's visit to Tokyo - the first such summit since 2011 - comes after he proposed that South Korean companies compensate plaintiffs who won court cases accusing Japanese firms of using forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.
That plan was welcomed in Tokyo and praised by the White House as "ground breaking," but several key victims have already rejected the proposal, and polls show it is generally unpopular in South Korea.
About 59 percent of the respondents oppose the plan because of the lack of an apology and compensation from Japan; 64 percent do not consider Yoon’s proposed compensation plan adequate, a Gallup Korea survey showed. Sixty-four percent of the respondents said South Korea did not need to rush to improve ties with Japan if there were no change in Tokyo's attitude, according to the poll.
"I believe that the Korean people will understand how hard the government has worked to heal the wound of the forced labor victims and to build a future-oriented Korea-Japan relations," Yoon said in a written interview with international media on Wednesday, when asked about domestic opposition.
