Japan looking to escalate South Korean wartime labour dispute to UN court

Seoul and Tokyo have been at loggerheads for months over compensation, stemming from a series of South Korean court decisions last year

Japan has now formally requested arbitration on the issue, but observers say that South Korea is unlikely to take part

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The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:41pm, 22 May 2019Updated: 5:41pm, 22 May 2019

Japan is preparing to escalate a dispute with South Korea over compensation for wartime labour to the International Court of Justice if Seoul does not agree to arbitration on the matter, observers say.

On Monday, Tokyo formally requested that an arbitration panel be set up, including a member from a third country, citing the terms of a 1965 treaty to normalise relations between the pair after the end of the second world war.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. Photo: Bloomberg

South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed that it received Japan’s official letter and said it will “carefully” review the request “considering related elements”.

But Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University, said that Seoul was unlikely to agree to arbitration.

“They have already rejected the previous step spelled out in the 1965 agreement, for bilateral talks, on the grounds that the government cannot interfere in judicial decisions,” he said. “So they will find it difficult to justify reversing that position as it will appear to the Korean public that their leaders have given in to Japanese pressure.”