hankyoreh

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks about his Liberal Democratic Party’s policy directions on July 11, following the party’s big win in the upper house elections. (Reuters/Yonhap News)

The death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had been a lodestar for conservatives and the right wing within Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has made it even harder for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to reach a compromise with South Korea over historical issues, according to analysis in the Japanese press.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi agreed during their first meeting since Park took office to quickly address the issue of compensating Koreans drafted for forced labor during the Japanese colonial period, but putting a solution into action appears likely to remain difficult.

“The slaying of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while campaigning two days before election day threw up another hurdle in the mutual quest to put bilateral ties back on a strong neighborly footing,” the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, opined about Park and Hayashi’s meeting in its July 19 edition.

“Abe had shepherded the party’s conservatives in support of the Kishida administration. Depending on [Kishida’s] actions going forward, the conservative wing could turn their backs on him in an instant,” said a veteran lawmaker in the LDP’s conservative wing.

Given the massive influence that Abe had wielded inside the party, his departure will force Kishida to court the conservative wing as a whole.

“There were concerns that if the Kishida administration was seen as taking a much more conciliatory stance toward Seoul, conservative elements within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party could begin openly voicing opposition to such moves,” the Asahi Shimbun reported.

The LDP’s conservative wing strongly feels that Japan shouldn’t budge until Korea arranges its own solution. That’s reportedly why Park’s courtesy call on Kishida was only arranged at the last minute.

“There was some hesitancy in the prime minister’s office about whether Kishida should meet with Park. That resulted in the announcement of Park’s visit to Japan being delayed until the evening of July 15, three days before [the foreign ministers’] meeting,” a Japanese government official told the Asahi Shimbun.

Park met with Kishida on Tuesday afternoon.

Park’s visit to Japan had been strongly requested by the South Korean government, under President Yoon Suk-yeol, sources say.

“The Koreans have wanted to sustain the mood for improving relations [with Japan] that developed when power changed hands,” said a senior official in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The Japanese government’s agreement to hold a foreign ministers’ meeting also reflects its desire to resolve the conscript labor issue early in Yoon’s presidency, when he still has the political capital to follow through on his eagerness to improve relations with Japan,” said the Yomiuri Shimbun, another Japanese newspaper.

“But considering that Yoon’s approval rating is already falling, it’s unclear whether it will make a difficult political decision on the conscript labor issue,” the newspaper added.

The Yoon administration holds that cooperation from Japan is needed to resolve the issue of compensation for victims of forced labor. The issue may not be solvable unless Japanese corporate defendants in the litigation, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel, commit to, at least to some extent, an apology and compensation.

“It would be difficult for the Korean government by itself to come up with a solution that would satisfy both the plaintiffs and the public. Liquidation [of Japanese companies’ assets] cannot be stopped without some cooperation from the Japanese,” a close associate of Yoon’s told the Mainichi, a Japanese daily.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]