The Japanese government has voiced its appreciation for the Seoul Central District Court's decision to recognize the application of sovereign immunity in rejecting claims by former so-called comfort women as well as the significance of the 2015 Japan-South Korea agreement.
"This ruling is groundbreaking because it is different from President Moon Jae-in's claim that effectively abrogated the agreement between Japan and South Korea," a Foreign Ministry official said, referring to the South Korean leader.
Yet the court decision does not mean that Japan can let its guard down against South Korea, as it is unclear whether the ruling's contents will become common knowledge for Seoul and the South Korean Supreme Court.
Since the South Korean Supreme Court's 2018 ruling ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation in a case involving former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula, Japan-South Korea relations have fallen to their "worst in postwar history."
The Japanese government has reacted to the ruling about the former requisitioned workers, saying it violates the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between Japan and South Korea, which was regarded as the foundation of postwar Tokyo-Seoul relations. The agreement clearly states that the issue of claims between the two countries has been confirmed to have been "settled completely and finally."
The Japanese government has repeatedly called on the South Korean government to resolve the illegal status of the former requisitioned workers ruling.
In January, the same Seoul Central District Court ordered the Japanese government to pay compensation to former comfort women, and the situation has not yet been resolved.
"We appreciate the ruling this time, but it doesn't change the fact that relations between Japan and South Korea are at their worst in the postwar era," a senior Foreign Ministry official said.
"South Korea, as a nation, should rectify its violations of international law," Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at a meeting of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
"I hope that it will make positive proposals," he added, stressing his desire to seek a solution to the court ruling regarding former requisitioned workers and the earlier ruling on the comfort women issue.
"If South Korea does not show an attitude of compliance with the agreements between nations," said an aide to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, "bilateral relations cannot be maintained at all."
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