(LEAD) Lee accuses Yoon administration of humiliating forced labor victims

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with remarks during the rally; Title CHANGED)

SEOUL, March 1 (Yonhap) — Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has accused President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government of humiliating victims of wartime forced labor in Japan by treating them as if they were fighting. for money as they struggle for decades to have their damage recognized.

Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, made the remark at a rally marking the anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, a 1919 national uprising against Japanese colonial rule, referring to Seoul’s proposal to create a public foundation to compensate for forced labor. victims.

“Here with us are many people who have suffered from Japan’s barbaric aggression,” Lee said at the rally in central Seoul, referring to victims of forced labor. “They have been fighting for decades to have the objective facts recognized, but this government has severely humiliated them as if they were fighting for money.”

The issue of wartime forced labor has been the biggest thorn in South Korea-Japan relations since Japan imposed export restrictions to the South in 2019 in retaliation for the order of the South Korean Supreme Court ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean victims of forced labor. .

The Japanese government has long claimed that all reparation issues arising from its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.

In an effort to break the deadlock, the Yoon administration has proposed establishing a public foundation based in South Korea to compensate Korean victims of forced labor who have won lawsuits against Japanese companies.

Earlier in the day, Lee also accused the government of undermining the spirit of the March 1 independence movement, saying it was impossible to build trust with Japan unless the neighboring country assumed its obligations. responsibilities and does not offer legal compensation for its 1910-1945 colonial rule over Korea.

“Yoon Suk Yeol’s government is oblivious to the spirit of the March 1 and Night independence movement,” Lee said in a Facebook post. “No one would object to building forward-looking relations between Korea and Japan. Without historical accountability and legitimate legal compensation, however, it is impossible to build trust.