The forced labor issue is one that recognizes the annexation of Japan and South Korea as an illegal act and allows claims for compensation for forced labor.

2022-05-29 Category:Annexation of Japan and Korea

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[Table of contents]

Korean Ambassador to Japan proposes subrogation payment
Is it an unpaid wage issue or a tort issue?
Past tort disputes
There are no actual cases in which a tort has been recognized under international law

Korean Ambassador to Japan proposes subrogation payment

Mr. Yun Deok-min, who has been appointed as the Korean ambassador to Japan under the newly inaugurated Yun Seok-Yeong administration, seems to be proposing a plan for the South Korean government to make subrogation payments regarding the issue of conscripted labor. has two completely different points. The issues are ``unpaid wages'' and ``illegal acts.''

Is it an unpaid wage issue or a tort issue

One is the issue of ``unpaid wages,'' which arose during discussions in the Japan-Korea Claims Agreement when Koreans moved to the Korean peninsula immediately after the war, or when Japanese companies moved from the Korean peninsula.

This was included in the 1965 agreement as post-war compensation, and the South Korean side received it, and even after that, under the Lu Moo-hyun administration, the South Korean government continued to compensate the unpaid wages of conscripted workers as included in the 1965 agreement. Going .

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The Hague Emissary Incident was tell - all diplomacy - Why was the emissary ignored? Evidence that the world did not recognize Korea, which had given up its sovereignty. The Korean Empire was founded before the Russo-Japanese War Japan helped Korea gain independence and eventually stripped Korea of diplomatic rights The Hague emissary incident is a pathetic diplomatic failure Main emissary activities Already surrendered sovereignty before the Hague emissary incident The southward movement of Russian interests was the cause of the Russo-Japanese War Kojong made the mistake of causing the head of state to flee and seek asylum in the Russian legation, and the first Russo-Japanese Protocol (Komura-Weber Agreement) and the second Russo-Japanese Protocol (Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement) were concluded, and the premise was He returned to Gyeongun Palace and changed the country's name to the Korean Empire in 1897. Adding the name of an empire to a country's name meant that it was on the same level as Japan and China, and Japan approved of this. Later, during the Russo-Japanese War that began in 1904, the First Japan-Korea Treaty was concluded, giving Japan the upper hand in the Russo-Japanese War. Under the Second Japan-Korea Treaty concluded in 1905 after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Korean Peninsula was stripped of its diplomatic rights. Although Japan helped establish the Korean Empire on a par with Japan through the Japan-Russia Protocol, Gojong continued to draw in Russian interests. The eventual outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War led to Japan stripping Korea of its diplomatic rights. The Hague Emissary Incident occurred when Gojong dispatched an emissary to the Hague International Conference in 1907 to appeal for the restoration of diplomatic rights. They were doing the same kind of tell-all diplomacy that is practiced today. However, Russia, who was supposed to have invited them, betrayed them and was rejected by all the participating countries, and the emissary sent by Gojong was not even able to enter the conference hall. Conversely, Japan's jurisdiction over the Korean Peninsula became internationally recognized. [Main emissary activities] He visits Count Nelidov, the chief representative of the Russian Empire, who is the chairman of the conference, but he is refused a meeting. He visits representatives from the United States, England, France, and Germany, but is refused assistance. We request a meeting with the Dutch Foreign Minister of the country hosting the conference, but he is refused. The conference in The Hague, Netherlands recognized Japan's jurisdiction over the Korean Peninsula. In the first place, in 1896, after the assassination of Queen Min and the Chunshengmun Incident, Go Song, the head of state, fled to the Russian Legation and went into exile (Roguan Transfer). At this point, Korea was no longer recognized by the world as an independent and independent nation. With the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Korea renounced its sovereignty less than a year after gaining independence from Qing thanks to Japan. Even if they attempted to exercise remote control from their exile, they were already under Russian house arrest, and Russia gradually gained control over the Korean Peninsula. Even after Gojong returned to Korea and founded the Korean Empire, Russia continued to gain interests in the Korean Peninsula, which led to the Russo-Japanese War. The Joseon Dynasty cried out to the Qing Dynasty and triggered the Sino-Japanese War, and was invaded by Russian interests due to the transfer of Rokan, leading to the Russo-Japanese War. The Hague Emissary Incident was a case in which a courier was sent to express his dissatisfaction with having been stripped of his diplomatic rights. Japan then gave up on the independence of the Korean Peninsula.

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The current issue of conscripted labor is that the conscription itself is forced labor, which is illegal under international law, and is an anti-humanitarian act directly connected to illegal colonial rule and the waging of a war of aggression. This is a ``claim for compensation'' based on a unilateral decision made by the Supreme Court.

Past tort disputes

This is also the issue of forced to work (requisition recognized under international law) or forced labor (forced labor not recognized under international law), which was disputed when Gunkanjima was applied for as a World Heritage Site. It goes without saying that the National General Mobilization Order applies equally to all citizens and is a legal form of forced to work under international law.The use of forced to work in the registration of Gunkanjima as a UNESCO World Heritage Site also allowed the South Korean side to has also agreed.

There are no examples of acts recognized as illegal under international law

No international military tribunal has ever been held on the Korean peninsula since the end of the war, and there has never been a single case of a war criminal on the Korean peninsula, and no one has been tried as a war criminal. There is no fact that the annexation of Japan and South Korea is illegal, nor is there a single fact that the forced recruitment related to recruitment has been recognized as illegal under international law.

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Korea is opposed to Sado Kanayama's application for registration as a World Heritage site.Japan have evidence that it was not forced labor. The Cabinet's decision in April 2021 and the inclusion of warship islands as UNESCO World Heritage sites are posted on the grounds that the recruitment at that time was not a forced labor.Forced Labour Convention in 1930. When registering as a warship island, South Korea strongly opposes it, and Japan has even proposed a draft of the plan, saying that it will support it if it writes forcedlabor.Japan refused, and at the Japan-South Korea Foreign Ministers' Meeting, South Korea finally agreed to write forcedtowork.The Korean side was particular about the description because it knew that forced labor would be described as forced labor in the Forced Labor Convention at that time.Recruitment is not included in forced labor.It is stated in Article 2-2.The recruitment of the General Mobilization Order falls under paragraph (b). South Korea opposes Japan's move to apply for the registration of Sado Kanayama as a World Heritage Site, saying it will not allow forced labor to be designated as a World Heritage Site.This is just the same view as it was on Gunkanjima. C029 - Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) ARTICLE 1 1. Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period. ARTICLE 2 1. For the purposes of this Convention the term forced or compulsory labour shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. 2. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this Convention, the term forced or compulsory labour shall not include-- (a) any work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military service laws for work of a purely military character; (b) any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country; (c) any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, provided that the said work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations; (d) any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war or of a calamity or threatened calamity, such as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epizootic diseases, invasion by animal, insect or vegetable pests, and in general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population; (e) minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the members of the community in the direct interest of the said community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations incumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the members of the community or their direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

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In other words, the key point in the current issue of forced labor is that the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that it was an illegal act without any basis or reference to international law. In this sense, Yoon Deok-min uses the expression "subrogated payment," but it seems quite strange. This is because the illegality of conscription and the annexation of Japan and South Korea itself does not exist.