A key goal for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in the wartime labor dispute with Japan is to ensure his plan does not end in failure like the 2015 “comfort women” agreement, sources said.

He seemed to believe early on that he had found a way to bring Japan onboard for a resolution to the thorny issue.

But winning over South Koreans, whose criticism doomed the comfort women agreement, continues to be a daunting challenge for Yoon.

Despite Yoon’s efforts not to repeat past mistakes in resolving a wartime issue, the jury is still out on whether South Korean politicians, voters and the former laborers themselves will accept his plan that was formally announced on March 6.

Under the plan, a South Korean government-affiliated foundation will pay compensation to Korean former laborers who had won a redress lawsuit against the Japanese companies they worked for during the war.

The Japanese government responded to Seoul’s move by indicating it will inherit the “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” expressed by previous administrations for Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.

At least on the diplomatic level, it appears that a resolution to the problem is nearing.

The South Korean side now hopes that Yoon will visit Japan and meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in mid-March, according to Japanese and South Korean government sources.

The two countries are making the necessary arrangements for the summit, they said.

SHIFT IN SEOUL’S STANCE

Yoon began seeking a solution to the wartime labor issue after becoming president in May last year.

Bilateral relations with Japan had slumped following the order by South Korea’s Supreme Court in autumn 2018 for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and what is now Nippon Steel Corp. to pay compensation to plaintiffs who had toiled for those companies during the war.

Yoon’s election victory brought about a shift from the liberal administration to a conservative one.

He ended the policies of his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who had been hostile toward Japan over history perceptions throughout his administration.

Moon was also accommodating toward North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s continued nuclear and missile development.

On the wartime labor issue, Yoon knew it would be difficult to gain an apology from the Japanese defendant companies, as was demanded by the plaintiffs.

The South Korean side informed Japan in the early stage of discussions on the issue that it would be good enough if the Japanese government announces that it has inherited the “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” expressed by previous administrations for Japan’s colonial rule and aggression, according to South Korean government sources.

How to compensate the former laborers was a trickier problem for Yoon.

He heard the Japanese government’s arguments that all compensation claims stemming from the colonial rule were settled under a bilateral agreement in 1965.

Also in the early stage of the discussions, the idea was floated of having the South Korean government-affiliated foundation pay compensation to the plaintiffs on behalf of the Japanese companies, using donations from private businesses.

This plan seemed acceptable to Japan because even if the defendant Japanese companies donated to the foundation, the funds would not be considered official compensation, the sources said.

In addition, the plaintiffs would receive an amount equivalent to the compensation order handed to the Japanese companies in the 2018 lawsuit.

However, some plaintiffs and their supporting organizations immediately criticized the idea, saying it was a concession to Japan and represented a “humiliating diplomacy.”

Therefore, when South Korea made public the idea in January, it only said it was a “leading proposal,” not a formal plan.

The South Korean government then stressed that it cares about the plaintiffs, and that it would seek a “sincere response” from Japan.

Yoon took an approach different from the behind-the scenes efforts that led to the 2015 agreement between Seoul and Tokyo on resolving the comfort women issue.

The agreement created a mechanism under which the women, who were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers before and during the war, would receive cash payments from 1 billion yen ($7.4 million) contributed by the Japanese government.

Of the 47 former comfort women who were alive when the agreement was signed, 35 would receive 100 million won (9 million yen, or $66,330) each under this arrangement.

However, some former comfort women and their supporting organizations severely criticized the agreement.

One of the biggest complaints was that the women themselves were not consulted beforehand, and that their actual demands were not reflected in the agreement.

The South Korean public supported the criticism, and the agreement fell apart under the Moon administration.

With this experience in mind, the current South Korean government took time to provide detailed explanations to 37 former wartime laborers who would likely receive payments under Yoon’s plan.

At the same time, Seoul demanded that the defendant Japanese companies contribute to the foundation. The Yoon administration knew that Japanese donations would significantly increase South Korean public support for the plan.

In February, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin once again strongly demanded donations from the Japanese companies at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Germany.

However, the Japanese side maintained its stance that it cannot accept demands for compensation.

The rejection fueled criticism against the Yoon government from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, to which Moon belongs. The party said the government was conducting “feeble diplomacy.”

The Yoon administration grew concerned that if it kept waiting for the Japanese side to change its stance, the South Korean public would become more critical of the government, according to sources close to Yoon.

The Japanese side then proposed that its business sectors set up projects to promote exchanges between young Japanese and South Koreans to help improve the bilateral relationship.

The proposal opened the way for Yoon to make the “political decision” to announce the plan.

CRITICISM PERSISTS IN SOUTH KOREA

In South Korea, the issue has not been resolved.

Yang Geum-deok, 92, one of the plaintiffs, and supporters blasted Yoon’s plan at a news conference in Gwangju, southern South Korea.

They said they don’t understand why “South Korea, which was a victim (in the war), will shoulder the responsibility for compensation that the defendant Japanese companies were ordered to pay.”

It’s unclear if the criticism against Yoon’s plan will spread among the South Korean public.

One expert on Japan-South Korean relations who is close to both governments said, “I cannot categorically say that critical views will not gain momentum.”

Despite South Korea’s effort to avert the same fate as the 2015 comfort women agreement, Koichi Hagiuda, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, brought up the topic when questioned by reporters.

He noted that the 2015 agreement declared the comfort women issue to be resolved “finally and irreversibly.”

“(Japan and South Korea at that time) decided to move forward to the future, but, regrettably, we couldn’t do it that way,” Hagiuda said.