The leaders of South Korea and Japan on Thursday hailed the new era of bilateral relations that have been strained for years by historical differences, with a slate of agreements aimed at boosting security, and economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
The agreements reached during a summit between President Yun Seok-yul and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the first in 12 years, came just 10 days after South Korea unveiled an agreement with Japan. On March 6, the Korean government said it would have a Seoul-backed foundation to compensate wartime forced labor victims, instead of walking away from a Supreme Court ruling that ordered two Japanese companies to pay. The deal and the summit that followed shortly seemed to provide a watershed moment for the two countries.
However, the Koreans remain concerned about the significant progress that has been made in less than two weeks of Japan's transformation from "sworn enemy" to "friend". Some say Yoon should have taken into account patriotic feelings towards Japan because many still demand a proper apology for the country's wartime atrocities, while some see the summit as progress in repairing strained relations and a move toward the future.
"I don't understand why the Korean government is not interested in this process with Japan," said a 40-year-old restaurateur in Seoul. "The government should not ignore the victims and the feelings of the nation," she said.
Kim Ja-hui, 19, said the Korean government appears to be sweeping unresolved historical differences under the rug and said she believes such agreements reached without an apology from Japan will only lead to more conflict in the future.
"Even if the Korea-Japan talks succeed, it can only be viewed critically because it was considered the wrong meeting from the start," she said.
"Criticism (South Korea's offer to set up a Seoul-backed foundation to compensate victims) continues in Korea. The president should try to understand people's thoughts before taking any action."
A retired banker in his 60s said the plan to found Seoul was wrong because the money was not what Koreans wanted.
"Instead, the Koreans continued to seek a proper apology. However, the president got it wrong. Yoon made an extreme choice to prove his achievements during his presidency."
Others said that the Korea-Japan summit should be assessed from a practical point of view and that it was time to move on from the mistakes of the past.
"I want Korea and Japan to make peace on this historical issue. It's been too long and boring for decades," said a 34-year-old businessman surnamed Kwon.
"However, they seem to be making progress both diplomatically and economically by lifting chip export regulations following the summit. So it's good if there are practical benefits."
Kang, a 34-year-old office worker, said he thought it was right to hold the summit, given security concerns over North Korea's growing nuclear threat.
"I know there are criticisms that there wasn't enough discussion with the population, but the government made the quick decision an advantage by increasing efficiency," he said.
But a recent survey conducted in the wake of the new compensation plan pointed to the negative sentiment among Koreans about Seoul's efforts to mend fences with Tokyo.
According to a Gallup Korea survey of 1,002 respondents conducted between March 8 and 9, only 35 percent supported Seoul providing third-party compensation to victims of forced labor in Korea's national interest.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents opposed Seoul's proposal, provided that the proposal does not take into account Japan's sincere apology and direct compensation to the victims.
The younger generation was more against the decision. According to the age of the respondents, 75 percent of those in their 30s and 78 percent of those in their 40s opposed the proposal.
In contrast, 59 percent of those between the ages of 50 and 59 opposed the proposal. The proportion of such respondents aged around 60 was 41 percent, and the proportion of those over 70 was only 39 percent.
The poll also showed that 3 in 10 favored Seoul's backtracking on the forced labor dispute, for which Tokyo's sincere apology seeks to improve bilateral relations. However, 64 percent of respondents said that Tokyo's reversal of its approach to forced labor issues should precede the improvement of Seoul-Tokyo relations.
A majority of those in their 60s, 70s, and older responded that rapid improvement in bilateral relations should be achieved regardless of the circumstances. This also contrasted with the younger generation, with less than 20 percent of people in their 30s and 40s saying better relations were more important than Japan's apology.
As to whether the contribution of Japanese companies responsible for war atrocities to the young Korean generation can be considered a legitimate compensation, 64 percent of the respondents said no and 27 percent said yes. Nearly 80 percent of those aged 30-40 said that such contributions cannot be accepted as compensation. Less than half of those in their 60s, 70s, and older agreed.
Meanwhile, another poll of 1,020 people conducted jointly by Kookmin Research Group and Ace Research from Saturday to Monday showed that a majority of them expected the ongoing Seoul-Tokyo summit to end badly.
About 57 percent said the Korea-Japan summit was unlikely to thaw relations between the two countries, while just over 40 percent said the summit would result in improved bilateral relations.
Only those over 60 casts a positive light on the Yoon-Kishida summit, 55 percent of them think the summit will be useful. In the other age groups, pessimists outnumbered optimists.
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