Japan Left Atrocity Victims Out of Compensation for Korea

Japan had no intention of apologizing to or compensating Asian women drafted as sex slaves for Japanese troops in World War II before it concluded a treaty with Korea in 1965, according to a declassified document.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry declassified a diplomatic document on the normalization of Seoul-Tokyo relations in 1965 at the request of a Japanese civic group, the Tokyo Shimbun reported Tuesday.

According to the 1962 document, then chief Cabinet secretary Masayoshi Ohira instructed the Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry to calculate the amount of Korea's compensation claims before negotiations for the 1965 treaty got underway

The Japanese government calculated compensation claims over postal savings, stocks and bonds, and unpaid wages and pensions only. This indicates that Tokyo gave no consideration to reparations for colonial-era atrocities like forced labor and sexual slavery.

The document could be useful as evidence in future court proceedings by the victims. Japanese courts have tended to rule according to Tokyo's official line that all individual compensation claims were settled with the 1965 treaty.