Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to Japan this week, the first by a South Korean president in about 12 years, could elevate bilateral relations to “version 2.0,” the South Korean ambassador said.

Yun Duk-min, Seoul’s top diplomat in Tokyo, said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun that the summit between Yoon and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on March 16 or 17 can pave the way for real improvements in bilateral relations, not just a quick fix for the soured ties.

But Yun added that further cooperation from the Japanese side will be vital to put the wartime laborers issue behind the two countries.

The March 9 interview with Yun followed Seoul’s announcement three days earlier that it will set up a foundation to pay wartime Korean laborers who toiled for Japanese companies an amount ordered in 2018 by the South Korean Supreme Court.

The Japanese government and the companies rejected the top court ruling, saying all compensation claims stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula were settled under a bilateral agreement in 1965, when relations were normalized.

South Korean government officials called its establishment of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan a “solution” to the prickly compensation issue.

In response to Seoul’s plan, Tokyo signaled that it will inherit the preceding Japanese administrations’ stance that expressed “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” for Japan’s colonial rule.

Yun said Seoul’s announcement resulted from the similar situations facing both Yoon and Kishida.

While the South Korean president was keen to improve relations with Japan, Kishida likely thought the bilateral ties should not be left strained, Yun said.

Yun also said the two leaders shared a growing urgency to patch up ties amid changes in the international environment, such as North Korea’s heightened weapons development program and the intensifying confrontation between the United States and China.

Yun said Yoon and Kishida can update the bilateral relationship to “version 2.0,” if the 1998 joint declaration to develop future-oriented South Korea-Japan relations after facing up to the past is the original version to deepen ties.

The joint declaration was announced by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and President Kim Dae-jung.

The ambassador said the two countries share democratic values and strong economic ties and can “cooperate in many fields to help resolve a slew of global challenges.”

But it remains unclear if Yoon’s plan to resolve the wartime labor issue will be accepted in his country.

Some of the plaintiffs have decried the plan. They continue to demand a clear-cut apology from the Japanese side and compensation from the defendant companies.

Opinion polls suggest that a majority of the South Korean public is critical of the plan.

Seoul called for a “sincere response” from Japan, such as making a fresh apology for its colonial rule or having the Japanese companies contribute funds to the foundation.

It also expressed hope that the Japanese companies would “voluntarily contribute” to the foundation.

“It is extremely important that the Japanese side will act at its initiative,” Yun said. “Many in South Korea will be against the plan, but Japan’s cooperation will be necessary to convince the South Korean public and victims about it.”

He added that the plaintiffs will likely raise the issue again if they reject the proposed solution.

“There also are concerns that a similar thing will be repeated when a new administration comes in,” he said.

Yun called on the Japanese side to consider the feelings of the victims.

“Even though Japanese officials may view that the compensation issue has been settled legally, I would like them to understand that the victims harbor different thoughts,” he said.

The ambassador said the proposed solution was hammered out after the South Korean government fully explained its intentions to the wartime laborers.

The Yoon government also received various feedback from many quarters on how to avoid repeating the failure of the 2015 Tokyo-Seoul agreement over compensation for Korean comfort women who were forced to provide sex to Japanese troops before and during World War II.

(This article was written by Kiyohide Inada and Tetsuya Hakoda.)