▲ Lee Soon-nam and colleagues mobilized at Nagoya Aircraft Factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries during the Japanese occupation
The Japanese right-wing media alleged that South Korea had to deal with the issue of reparation, as Japanese assets became the foundation of Korea's economic development while Japanese companies were in the process of forcing the sale of assets in Korea in accordance with the ruling by Japanese imperialism.
In a column, a guest editorial board member from the Katshiro Kuroda Hiroshi Sankyo Newspaper said in a column that the huge amount of property left when the Japanese left the Korean Peninsula after the defeat was transferred to the Korean side through the United States and was "the basis of economic development."
He made this claim by introducing the contents of the book,'Professional Property Research' (2015) by Emeritus Professor Lee Dae-geun of Sungkyunkwan University, which dealt with the assets that Japan left when they left Korea after colonial rule.
This honorary professor is the founder of the Nakseong University Research Institute, where major authors of'anti-Japanese racism' such as Young-hoon Lee, Nak-yeon Kim, Woo-yeon Lee, and Ik-jong Lee have joined.
Previously, the Japanese government continued to spread the message that “Japan contributed to Korea's economic development” at a time when the history of past conflicts between Korea and Japan became intense.
However, the Kuroda Guest Editorial Committee's column and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' publicity did not introduce the facts of exploitation, exploitation, and human rights violations that occurred during the colonial rule, but emphasized only what Japan left behind or provided.
There is a huge difference from the Korean Supreme Court's judgment that a number of illegal acts have occurred in the process of punishment and that the liability for this has not been included in the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement.
Earlier, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to claim compulsory alimony is not covered by the claims agreement.
This means that Japan's economic cooperation funds paid to Korea under the Japan-Japan Claims Agreement and the liability for illegal activities are separate.
(Photo = Prosecution of victims of forced mobilization by the Japanese Prime Minister against Japan, and support committees including victims of forced mobilization abroad, Yonhap News)