While analysts said Lee should distance himself from the court’s ruling, he was unlikely to avoid questions over his stance on the case and the compensation issue. Expressing full support for the victims of imperial Japan could complicate Seoul’s relations with Tokyo, while Lee being neutral on the issue could upset his domestic support base, according to the analysts.
Both countries had been “at loggerheads” since the 2018 ruling by the South Korean Supreme Court that granted victims or their descendants the right to seek compensation from Japanese firms through the courts, said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo.
“That ruling brought things to the boil between Moon and [then-Japanese Prime Minister] Shinzo Abe that quickly descended into a free-for-all of tit-for-tat actions and reactions by both sides,” Kingston told This Week in Asia. “Nothing came out of it except animosity.”
