Japan Lawmaker, S. Korea PM Fail to Settle Wartime Labor Row

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)--Prominent Japanese lawmaker Fukushiro Nukaga and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon remained apart on wartime labor issues at their meeting in Seoul on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. During the breakfast meeting, Nukaga, head of a group of Japanese lawmakers to promote the bilateral ties, reportedly expressed concern about recent rulings by the South Korean Supreme Court ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Korean plaintiffs who claimed to have been forced to work in Japan during World War II. The Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule at the time. While reiterating Seoul's position of respecting the court rulings, Lee was quoted as saying that the refusal of Japanese defendants to accept the rulings after they agreed to face the lawsuits is inconsistent. There has been no official announcement on details of the meeting. South Korean lawmaker Kang Chang-il, head of the Japanese group's counterpart in South Korea, joined the meeting and voiced worries about the Japanese government's involvement in the wartime labor row, which he claimed is a matter between individuals and Japanese companies, according to Yonhap. Kang defended recent remarks by Moon Hee-sang, speaker of South Korea's National Assembly, calling for an apology from Japanese Emperor Akihito to former "comfort women," who were forced to sexually serve Japanese troops before and during the war. He reportedly said that the parliament speaker meant to call for improving the two countries' relations, although the remarks in question may have contained expressions that were taken as inappropriate in Japan. END