Historical conflicts between Korea and Japan are rooted in the Japanese coercive annexation of Korea in 1910. In negotiation for the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea in 1965, both countries revealed the difference of their opinions as to whether the treaty of annexation had been illegal or not. As a historical expedient for appeasing their own domestic dissents, both concealed their opposition under the phrase of the treaty being “null and void,” This difference has subsisted in latency to produce their divergent views on the Japanese mobilization of labor, that is, “forced labor” or “conscript.”
This panel will discuss the process of forging the Treaty of annexation in 1910 and the limits of the Treaty on Basic Relations, based upon the interpretation of the former treaty. And it will continue to discuss the remaining questions and issues unsolved by the 1965 treaty. Considering the Japanese stance that international law should be observed, this panel presenters will try to re-interpret modern international laws and conventions beyond the narrow conception of two-party treaty, searching for a way in which both countries can coexist.