Families of plaintiffs in lawsuits involving former South Korean wartime laborers and female volunteer corps demonstrate in front of the South Korean Supreme Court in Seoul on December 21, 2023. (©Kyodo)
On December 11, the South Korean top court once again partially upheld the claims of plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit against Nippon Steel, reaffirming its stance on disputes stemming from wartime labor during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Just four days later, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a sharply worded statement criticizing Japan's report on the Sado Gold Mine, submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. It argued that the report fell short in explaining the issue of "forced labor" involving Korean laborers during the colonial era.
Together, the two developments serve as a reminder that beneath the apparent stability of Tokyo–Seoul relations, unresolved historical tensions persist.
Lee Wooyoun, a research fellow at the Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research, has long examined these historical claims, contesting assertions that Japanese companies systematically withheld wages or discriminated against Korean workers.
Drawing on his review of materials produced by South Korea's Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under Japanese Imperialism — often cited as core evidence in forced labor claims — he has scrutinized the prevailing narrative.
In an interview with JAPAN Forward, Lee, co-author of the bestseller Anti-Japan Tribalism, elaborates on his latest findings.
Tracing Labor at the Sado Mine
The aforementioned truth commission was established in 2004 under the left-leaning Roh Moo-hyun administration. Operating under three laws, it recognized wartime labor victims and provided consolation payments until 2015.
Regarding the Sado Mine, the National Archives of Korea compiled a booklet documenting records on 147 individuals allegedly mobilized there, drawing from materials collected by the commission. Lee obtained the booklet through his own channels and examined the damage claims.
According to the data, travel to the Sado Mine fell into several categories.
Voluntary migration between July 1930 and January 1940 accounted for 27 individuals (20.0%). During the wartime period, 50 people (37.0%) arrived through "recruitment" between February 1940 and March 1942.
Another 51 people (37.8%) were sent through "government-mediated recruitment" from April 1942 to August 1944. Only seven individuals (5.2%) were mobilized through compulsory conscription between October 1944 and April 1945.
Notably, as early as February 1940, well before the wartime conscription began, 27 individuals were already working at the Sado Mine.
Freedom, Coercion, and Contradictions
While their travel appears to have been voluntary, Lee says that 12 of them reported having been "forced into labor." In fact, the commission recognized all 27 as victims of forced mobilization.
As for the seven individuals subject to legally binding conscription, Lee notes that despite working in the same environment, most of their testimonies do not align.
Some, for instance, reported that there was no assault, while others claimed they suffered serious assault and abuse. Even among the more than 100 cases classified as recruitment or government-mediated recruitment, roughly 80% described being "forced to go to Japan."
Meanwhile, Lee says that nearly all consistently reported purchasing and using tobacco and alcohol, suggesting that the laborers exercised a degree of personal freedom.
The Reality of Wage Discrimination
The booklet also records that 11 of the 147 Korean laborers died at the Sado Mine. However, testimonies concerning these deaths include statements such as "I saw several people die in a single day" or "One person died every day."
Based on these accounts, Lee says, "There is no doubt that some of these testimonies exaggerate the facts or border on fictitious stories."
Similarly inconsistent are testimonies on wages. While some claim that Koreans were paid only 70 to 80% of Japanese wages, others suggest their average earnings exceeded those of Japanese workers.
"But this was not ethnic discrimination," Lee explains.
Actual mining operations required more dexterity than simply collecting and transporting ore. Because many Korean laborers had limited experience and were less skilled than their Japanese counterparts, differences emerged in the tasks they were assigned.
Wage disparities, Lee adds, reflected the nature of the work and individual output.
Evidence of Autonomy
During the interview, Lee made clear that conditions at the Sado Mine were far from a "heaven on earth." He concedes that some workers undoubtedly experienced fear while working underground, and for young people from rural backgrounds, adjusting to the disciplined routine of clocking in and out on time was not easy.
Lee, however, contests the prevailing view in mainstream Korean academia that Korean laborers were assigned particularly harsh and dangerous tasks.
"On this point, misunderstandings persist even among researchers," he says.
Roughly 90% of Korean laborers worked underground, a danger that cannot be dismissed. But Lee notes this figure applies only within the Korean workforce. Across the mine as a whole, Japanese workers made up nearly 70% of underground laborers.
It is estimated that this photo was taken in June 1944 when he was mobilized to Unit 13052, Fourth Company. He is shown smiling with his arm linked with a colleague. (Courtesy of Ryosuke Nagatani)
Regarding the escape of Korean laborers, Lee offers a more nuanced perspective.
Although he recognizes that some researchers cite runaways as evidence of forced labor, Lee argues that "if they had been forcibly mobilized like slaves, their escape would have been back to their homeland, Korea."
"In reality, many moved to higher-paying workplaces or sought better conditions elsewhere in Japan."
At the Sado Mine, for instance, 24 Korean laborers are recorded to have brought their families from the peninsula. Sixteen of them had children, and while most brought their wives and families, there were also cases in which they fathered children with Japanese women.
History Threatens Future Ties
Seen in this broader context, Lee cautions that the "history war" between Japan and South Korea is far from over, carrying the risk of resurfacing as a diplomatic friction.
He voices particular concern that South Korean courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of forced-labor claims and imposed liability on Japanese firms.
Since the South Korean Supreme Court's 2018 ruling that wartime labor claims were not fully settled by the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations and ordered Japanese firms to pay compensation, similar lawsuits have proliferated, significantly straining bilateral ties.
Relations finally stabilized in 2023 under the conservative Yoon Seok-yul administration, when Seoul assumed responsibility for compensation. Yet several victims and their families continue to demand direct payments from Japanese companies.
Lee points out that the so-called victims of wartime labor and their families have already been compensated, at least three times, in the course of history.
Suing Japanese companies yet again, Lee quips, "is like getting paid four separate times for doing the same job."
As long as judicial and political intervention dominate historical discourse, he says, Japan–South Korea relations will struggle to move beyond being mere "security friends for mutual benefit" and achieve a genuinely stable partnership.
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Author: Kenji Yoshida
