Im Jaesung "The Day Korean Companies Used Money to Waive Japanese Companies' Debt"

Attorney for Forced Mobilization Damage Lawsuit Representative Team
CBS Radio Interview "Japanese Government's Diplomatic Victory"

"The core issue is whether there is any burden on the Japanese side or not. In the end, it concluded that no burden was extracted from the Japanese side."

Attorney Im Jae-sung, a representative of the forced labor damage lawsuit plaintiffs, said this in an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 6th. The Korean Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Japanese companies must compensate forced labor victims, but the ruling has not been enforced. The governments of Korea and Japan negotiated to find a solution, but Attorney Im did not hide his critical view.

Attorney Im said, "Among the various options reviewed, the worst and lowest option was ultimately decided," adding, "It is purely a plan to exempt Japanese companies that lost the lawsuit from their debts using only Korean companies' money."

On July 23, 2019, a statue honoring the spirits of forced laborers during the Japanese colonial period was installed at Bupyeong Park in Incheon. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Attorney Im stated, "Since Japan did not bear any burden or responsibility and exempted its losing domestic companies from the ruling, I evaluate today as a day when the Japanese government achieved a diplomatic victory," he said.

"Japan now wants to cover up this issue somehow and move on quickly. So Japan can apologize. But their stance of absolutely not apologizing for this issue means they do not want to bring it up again. The Korean government has already erased all the victims' claims with Korean companies' money. After all claims are gone, why would Japanese companies voluntarily donate to a foundation even named the Forced Labor Victims Support Foundation? This is the Korean government saying they will continue to try to cover up their current diplomatic failure. In fact, this is a meaningless story made for publicity or to hide their actual situation, and I evaluate today's actions as such."

Attorney Im also criticized the plan to establish a scholarship foundation, saying, "They suddenly want to create a scholarship foundation that has nothing to do with forced labor. They intend to give money to Japanese students who have no relation to forced labor."

Attorney Im said, "If it has nothing to do with forced labor, then we can provide money. I see this as a typical diversion tactic. It is like a strategic misdirection to cover up diplomatic failure."

Attorney Im interpreted, "There was some expectation that the Kishida Cabinet might be a bit more flexible on this issue than the Abe Cabinet, but it ultimately resulted in maintaining denial and distortion of the forced labor issue."

Attorney Im said, "They say they are compromising to bring about Japanese measures, but nothing has been achieved. Even neutral or conservative experts and scholars evaluate this as 'too much concession,' or even 'too much surrender,' and added, "The Japanese defendant companies are responsible for enforcing the ruling, but if Korea eliminates the ruling against the defendant companies, this is actually unacceptable."