Japan Seeks Arbitration With South Korea on Forced-Labor Claims
- Ties between the neighbors rattled by historical dispute
- Tokyo’s move comes days before Trump state visit to Japan
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Japan is seeking arbitration with South Korea over compensation claims for Koreans conscripted into labor decades ago by Japanese firms, saying it has exhausted diplomacy with its neighbor on the simmering dispute.
Seoul and Tokyo have been at loggerheads for months on resolving the fight that stemmed from South Korean court decisions last year ordering compensation from Japanese companies whose predecessors used forced labor during the 1910-1945 colonial occupation of the peninsula -- a flare-up in a historical conflict that has plunged ties to their lowest level in years.