SEOUL--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his “heart hurts” over the suffering that Korean laborers endured during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in response to his South Korean counterpart’s efforts to improve bilateral relations.

In a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol here on May 7, Kishida said, “My heart hurts about the fact that many people endured very difficult and sad experiences under severe circumstances at the time,” regarding wartime Korean laborers.

Yoon said, “We must get away from the thinking that we cannot move even a step toward cooperation for the future unless history issues from the past are completely resolved.”

Compensation for wartime Korean laborers has been the thorniest issue for bilateral relations in recent years.

In March, Seoul said a foundation under the South Korean government would make payments equivalent to compensation on behalf of Japanese companies sued by former laborers.

Tokyo appreciated Seoul’s initiative and announced that the government "takes up in its entirety the position of previous Cabinets on the recognition of the history, including the Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration announced in October 1998."

In that declaration, Japan expressed "deep remorse and heartfelt apology" for its colonial rule of Korea. 

At a news conference after the meeting, Kishida said the Japanese government’s position, as expressed in the March statement, will remain unchanged.

But he took a step further by repeating the remark he made during the summit, saying it is his “personal feeling.”

In South Korea, criticism has remained about the lack of a clear apology from the Japanese side over the issue of wartime laborers.

Yoon has been in a difficult political situation, and what Kishida would say about the issue has been a focus of his first trip to South Korea since he became prime minister in October 2021.

Kishida told the news conference, “I was touched by the fact that many people opened their hearts to the future although they have not forgotten painful memories of the past,” referring to the payments being made to former laborers based on the South Korean proposal.

He also said, “While there are various historical events and background between Japan and South Korea, it is my responsibility as Japanese prime minister to cooperate toward the future with President Yoon and other South Korean officials.”

The South Korean side has been seeking “concrete words” from Kishida that would be broadly acceptable to the South Korean public, according to a South Korean government official.

It remains unclear whether Kishida’s remark will change the stance of some plaintiffs who have refused to accept the payments based on the South Korean proposal or soften South Korean public opinion about the issue.

Still, a South Korean government source close to Yoon said, “Kishida spoke in words of his own choosing. I think South Korean people will understand his feelings.”

During the meeting, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes, Kishida told Yoon that Japan will accept an on-site visit by South Korean experts at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on May 23.

Concerns remain strong in South Korea about Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water into the ocean from the plant, which experienced triple meltdown in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Yoon was appreciative, saying at the news conference that Kishida “promised to make efforts to dispel concerns about the health and safety among the South Korean public.”

Kishida and Yoon agreed to pay their respects before a cenotaph for South Korean atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park when Yoon visits the city as a guest to the Group of Seven summit that opens on May 19.

It will be the first time for the leaders of Japan and South Korea to visit the cenotaph together.

On March 16, 10 days after South Korea announced its plan about the wartime laborers issue, Yoon visited Japan for the first time since he became president in May last year.

During a summit meeting, the two leaders agreed to mutually visit each other’s country, a diplomatic arrangement that had been absent for about 12 years. Kishida’s visit to Seoul on May 7 was the first in line with the agreement.

Takeo Akiba, secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat, met with Yoon and conveyed Kishida’s message on May 3 when he visited Seoul to hold a meeting with his counterpart.

In the message, Kishida said, “I highly evaluated the president’s brave decision to lead efforts to improve Japan-South Korea relations, and I decided to visit South Korea to do something I can to reward such a decision,” according to the South Korean presidential office.

Kishida told reporters in Seoul on May 8, “I want to further strengthen my relations of trust with Yoon and work together to carve out a new era.”

(This article was written by Keishi Nishimura, Kiyohide Inada and Narumi Ota.)