Japan’s Abe to skip summit with Moon

Bloomberg

Japan rejected a South Korean proposal for a joint compensation fund to resolve a dispute over colonial-era forced labour claims, in the latest sign of strain between the two US allies.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it was willing to consider diplomatic talks about compensation for Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies before and during World War II. The offer was made on the condition that Japan accepted the ministry’s proposal that companies from both countries make contributions to a fund.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the plan “would not rectify the breach of international law and therefore would not be a resolution to this problem. ”
The statements came hours after the Sankei newspaper reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had decided not to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. The move was due to the lack of progress on the issue that Japan sees as settled under a 1965 treaty, the Sankei reported, without saying where it got its information.
Long-fraught relations between the two US allies have soured in recent months as a series of South Korean courts ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation for Koreans conscripted into work for Japan’s imperial war machine. The dispute has complicated US attempts to coordinate a response to nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Abe decided against meeting Moon after South Korea didn’t meet a June 18 deadline to respond to Japan’s requests for arbitration to resolve compensation disputes, the Sankei said.
The report came nine days before Japan holds the annual Group of 20 gathering of leaders of the world’s biggest economies, when the host nation’s leader usually meets one-on-one with visiting counterparts. “Nothing has been decided,” Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Natsuko Sakata said in response to a question about the meeting. South Korea’s presidential office said arrangements for G-20 meetings remained under discussion.
Japan has said that all claims relating to the 1910-45 colonial period were decided under the 1965 treaty that normalised ties and states that matters of compensation are “settled completely and finally.”
Moon argues that the treaty doesn’t prevent Koreans from suing Japanese firms and that the court decisions should be respected.