He called South Korea his country’s “most
important neighbor,” a standard phrase he used
until their relations rapidly deteriorated in the past
two years over wartime history and trade disputes.
Abe, however, repeated his demand that South
Korea resolve the issue of compensation for
Korean laborers during Japan’s 1910-1945
colonial rule.
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo nosedived
after a South Korean court in late 2018 ordered
some Japanese companies to compensate
Korean laborers for their brutal treatment before
and during the World War II. Japan maintains
that all compensation issues were settled under
a 1965 treaty that normalized relations.
Abe said he is determined to settle Japan’s
“unfortunate past” with North Korea, as he
hopes to “sum up” his country’s postwar legacies
before his term expires next year.
He reiterated his intention to hold talks with
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without
the conditions he had demanded in the past
— denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and
resolving the decades-old issue of abductions of
Japanese citizens by North Korea.
Part of Abe’s plan while in office is to achieve
his long-cherished goal of revising Japan’s U.S.-
drafted constitution that prohibits use of force
in settling international disputes. Despite Abe’s
push, chances are fading for the revision due
to a lack of public interest and the opposition’s
focus on other controversial issues such as
Japan’s recent dispatch of naval troops to Middle
East and questionable public record-keeping at
Abe’s annual cherry blossom-viewing parties.