South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met in Seoul over the weekend for their second summit in two months.

The two leaders called for closer economic and security cooperation amid growing threats from China and North Korea, but their urgent push for better ties might be derailed by lingering animosity over Japan’s use of Korean slaves in World War II. Kishida offered his latest statement on the forced labor controversy, but the South Korean opposition criticized him for simply checking off a sympathy box instead of offering a direct apology.

“I personally feel my heart ache at the thought of countless people having gone through very challenging and sad times under extreme conditions,” Kishida said at a press conference on Sunday, making his first public statement on the forced labor issue since becoming prime minister.

The Korea Herald found some South Korean politicians and academics dissatisfied with Kishida’s brief remarks, which framed Imperial Japan’s abuse of Korea during the World War II era as though it was a natural disaster, rather than an act Japan needs to apologize for.

“Kishida’s remarks are so carefully crafted that in essence, they mean little to nothing,” said Cho Seong-ryoul, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.

“What makes me suspicious of Kishida’s ‘sincerity’ is the fact that Japan is still waging a battle on multiple fronts, historically speaking,” Cho added, referring to such issues as the thorny territorial dispute over what South Korea calls the Dokdo Islands.

Others thought Kishida’s remarks could be a promising start, and were probably the strongest sentiments he was politically positioned to offer. Kishida made it clear he could not repudiate the position of the Japanese government that the forced labor issue has been settled by past treaties and agreements.

“I’m not saying we declare closure right now, but we can’t be mired in disputes in a way that prevents us from bolstering ties and advancing shared interests,” Sejong Institute director of Japanese studies Jin Chang-soo told the Korea Herald.

Voice of America News (VOA) noted the “back-to-back” Yoon-Kishida summits were “largely meant to resolve the countries’ bitter disputes caused by the 2018 court rulings in South Korea that ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate some of their aging former Korean employees for colonial-era forced labor.”

Japan largely disregarded these verdicts, launching a years-long feud in which South Korea and Japan hit each other with trade penalties, and even considered cutting back security cooperation despite their obvious mutual interest in restraining Chinese and North Korean aggression. 

Yoon, who won the South Korean presidency in March 2022 but only recently managed to haul his approval rating above 40 percent, sought to end the political deadlock in March 2023 by announcing a controversial plan to use local South Korean government funds to compensate forced labor victims, rather than pushing for Japan to make direct payments. 

The Japanese adamantly believe financial compensation issues were settled for good in a 1965 treaty. Yoon’s plan would effectively route funds from South Korean companies that benefited from Japan’s 1965 payments to compensate forced labor survivors and their families.

Yoon fairly explicitly said his compensation plan was an effort to get the World War II issue off the table so South Korea and Japan could resume close cooperation in the pursuit of their mutual economic and security interests.

“Cooperation and coordination between South Korea and Japan are essential not only for the common interests of the two countries but also for world peace and prosperity in the face of the current severe international situation,” Yoon said on Sunday.

“We should stay away from thinking that we must not make a step forward because our history issues aren’t settled completely,” he said.

Many advocate for the victims of Imperial Japan’s slavery criticized Yoon’s proposal, insisting on a more heartfelt apology and direct payments from Japan. However, the Yoon administration claims many of the actual victims and their families have already accepted the local government compensation proposal.

Lee Jae-myung, the South Korean Democratic Party leader who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, agreed that better relations with Japan are necessary, but said Yoon was making too many concessions to Tokyo.

“We cannot move into the future in the way of selling out on our past. Normalizing relations between South Korea and Japan is a necessity, and I am in favor of it, but not at the cost of our national interests, national dignity, history and justice,” Lee said.

Yoon and Kishida both spoke highly of their weekend summit, the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to Seoul in 12 years. 

Korea Joongang Daily (KJD) suggested Kishida was eager to resume “shuttle diplomacy” with South Korea in the wake of the “Washington Declaration,” a statement of strengthened security ties made by Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden two weeks ago:

The two leaders held a joint press conference, vowing to share information related to North Korean missile movements among the U.S., Korea, and Japan and other trilateral security cooperation. The agreement suggests an extension of heightened Korea-U.S. deterrence capabilities by including Japan. The two leaders also agreed to deepen their cooperation on chip manufacturing and supply chains. Also, Korean experts will be invited to Japan to carry out an on-site inspection ahead of Japan’s radioactive water release from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The two governments must see through transparent and objective results through working-level discussions.

KJD predicted Seoul and Tokyo would move forward on agreements to restore Japanese investment in South Korea, renewed trade, cooperation on semiconductor manufacturing, cutting-edge scientific research, and even “jointly finding solutions to the low fertility rate and fast-aging population” challenging both countries.

Yoon held a meeting with his top officials on Monday, urging them to quickly follow up on his summit with Kishida by cooperating with the Japanese on security and technology issues. He also told them to establish youth and culture exchanges with Japan.

Kishida met with South Korean lawmakers before returning to Tokyo on Monday and explicitly told them “shuttle diplomacy” is back. He asked South Korean lawmakers to work with their Japanese counterparts on legislation that would bring the two countries closer together.

Some South Korean opposition lawmakers took the opportunity of the meeting to tell Kishida they were not satisfied with his statement on forced labor or his offer to bring South Korean observers to Fukushima.

Kishida also held a closed-door meeting with South Korean business lobbies on Monday, hosted by the Japanese embassy in Seoul. The South Korean business representatives reportedly asked Kishida to encourage Japanese corporations to reach out to them for trade and investment opportunities as relations between the two countries warm up.

“The prime minister told us many good things. He asked for companies of both countries to act first to lead the economic cooperation,” Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won said after the meeting.

“I asked for Kishida’s support on the future partnership fund. We are talking with Keidanren, and I believe the operation committee will be established within a couple of days,” said Kim Yoon, head of the Korea-Japan Economic Association, referring to one of the two partnership funds that are to be established by South Korea and Japan’s largest business groups.