Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea

The Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea (Japanese: 日韓基本条約 (Nikkan Kihon Jōyaku); Korean: 한일기본조약, 韓日基本條約, Hanil Gibon Joyak) was signed on June 22, 1965. It established basic diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea.[1]

A copy exhibited at National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

Background

As Korea was not a signatory state of the Treaty of San Francisco, it was not entitled to the benefits of Article 14, which stipulated the reparations by Japan. However, by the provisions of Article 21 of that treaty, Korea was entitled to be an authority applied to Article 4, which stated the arrangement of property and claims.[2]

The Treaty was the fruit of the "Korea–Japan Talks," a series of bilateral talks held between South Korea and Japan from October 1951 to June 1965 to normalize diplomatic relations. Over that period of 14 years, a total of seven talks were held.

In his 1974 Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Eisaku Satō explicitly mentioned the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and South Korea. He described "the guiding spirit of equality and mutual advantage and the realistic approach of seeking to establish friendship with close neighbors" as significant aspects of the extended negotiations which produced the bilateral agreement.[3]

In October 2018, the Supreme Court of Korea issued a ruling which ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to compensate the victims of forced labor. The company has not done so, with Japan arguing the matter was settled under the 1965 treaty. The Japanese Government has maintained that this ruling, along with the one made on Japan's position in relations to the Korean comfort women ('forced sexual slavery') in January 2021, is a breach of the 1965 treaty.[4]  

Terms

The treaty established "normal" diplomatic relations between the East Asian neighbors. The original documents of this agreement are kept respectively by Japan and Korea. The treaty is drafted using English, Japanese, and Korean, each of which is considered authentic. In case of a "divergence of interpretation," the English-language version is deemed to be authoritative and prevailing.[5]

The 1965 Treaty also declared:

It is confirmed that all treaties or agreements concluded between the Empire of Japan and the Empire of Korea on or before August 22, 1910 are already null and void.[6]

Settlements
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With the Treaty, the agreements between Japan and Korea concerning the settlement of problems in regard to property and claims and economic cooperation was also signed.

In accordance to the treaty, Japan supplied South Korea with $300 million grant paid over 10 years, $30 million per year and $200 million in low-interest loans as a 'reparation fee'[7] The official policy of Japanese governments has been that, in regard to war-time property issues and individual claims for compensation, such issues were settled completely and finally by this agreement.

The 1965 Treaty Article I:

1. To the Republic of Korea Japan shall :

(a) Supply the products of Japan and the services of the Japanese people, the total value of which will be so much in yen as shall be equivalent to three hundred million United States dollars ($300,000,000) at present computed at one hundred and eight billion yen (¥108,000,000,000), in grants [on a non-repayable basis] within the period of ten years from the date of the entry into force of the present Agreement. The supply of such products and services in each year shall be limited to [shall be such] such amount in yen as shall be equivalent to thirty million United States dollars ($30,000,000) at present computed at ten billion eight hundred million yen (¥10,800,000,000) ; in case the supply of any one year falls short of the said amount, the remainder shall be added to the amounts of the supplies for the next and subse quent years. However, the ceiling on the amount of the supply for any one year can be raised [increased] by agreement between the Governments of the Contract ing Parties.

(b) Extend long-term and low-interest loans up to such amount in yen as shall be equivalent to two hundred million United States dollars ($200,000,000) at present computed at seventy-two billion yen (¥72,000,000,000), which the Government of the Republic of Korea may request and which shall be used for the procurement by the Republic of Korea of the products of Japan and the services of the Japanese people necessary in implementing the projects to be determined in accordance with arrangements to be concluded under the provisions of paragraph 3 of the present Article, within the period of ten years from the date of the entry into force of the present Agreement. Such loans shall be extended by the Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund of Japan, and the Government of Japan shall take necessary measures in order that the said Fund will be able to secure the necessary funds for implementing the loans evenly each year.

The above-mentioned supply and loans should be such that will be conducive to the economic development of the Republic of Korea.


The 1965 Treaty Article II:

1 The High Contracting Parties confirm that the problems concerning property, rights, and interests of the two High Contracting Parties and their peoples (including juridical persons) and the claims between the High Contracting Parties and between their peoples, including those stipulated in Article IV(a) of the Peace Treaty with Japan signed at the city of San Francisco on September 8, 1951, have been settled completely and finally.

Use of loans and grants

The loans and grants provided to South Korea were used for the following projects. Pohang Iron and Steel Company used $88.68 million loan and $30.8 million grant, a total of $119.48 million, 44.3% of the $200 million loan.[8][9]

$200M loans

ProjectExpense (M$)%
Construction of Pohang Iron and Steel Company 88.68 44.3
Construction of Soyang Dam 41.22 20.6
Bringing up small business 22.23 11.1
Improvement of railway facilities 21.16 10.6
Maritime development project 8.17 4.1
Construction of Gyeongbu Expressway 7.24 3.6
Expansion of long distance telephone service 4.19 2.1
Dredging operation 3.29 1.6
Others 3.82 1.9
Total 200.00 100.0

$300M grants

ProjectExpense (M$)%
Korea Exchange Bank: Purchase of raw material 132.82 44.2
Development of agriculture water 30.84 10.3
Construction of Pohang Iron and Steel Company 30.80 10.2
Introduction of fishing vessel 27.17 9.1
Construction of maritime training vessel 13.47 4.5
Weather forecast facilities 6.38 2.1
Power transmission and distribution facilities 3.66 1.2
Cartography of rural area 3.20 1.1
Others 51.66 17.3
Total 300.00 100.0

Compensation

There has been a constant call from the South Korean public that Japan should compensate Korean individuals who suffered from Japanese colonial rule. The Japanese government has refused to do so, arguing that it settled issues on a government-to-government basis under the 1965 agreement. The South Korean government has argued that the 1965 agreement was not intended to settle individual claims against Japan for war crime or crimes against humanity as shown by documents presented during the negotiations specifically excluding claims for personal injuries incurred by Japan's violations of international laws.[10] The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has advocated the South Korean government's perspective by defining that the comfort women issue is a matter of human rights; the 1965 treaty only regulated property claims and not personal damages.[11]

In January 2005, the South Korean government disclosed 1,200 pages of diplomatic documents that recorded the proceeding of the treaty. The documents, kept secret for 40 years, recorded that the Japanese government actually proposed to the South Korean government to directly compensate individual victims but it was the South Korean government which insisted that it would handle individual compensation to its citizens and then received the whole amount of grants on behalf of the victims.[12][13][14]

South Korean government demanded a total of 364 million dollars in compensation for the 1.03 million Koreans conscripted into the workforce and the military during the colonial period,[15] at a rate of 200 dollars per survivor, 1,650 dollars per death and 2,000 dollars per injured person.[16] South Korea agreed to demand no further compensation, either at the government or individual level, after receiving $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan as compensation for its 1910–45 colonial rule in the treaty.[14]

Most of the funds from grants and loan were used for economic development,[17] particularly on establishing social infrastructures, founding POSCO, building Gyeongbu Expressway and the Soyang Dam with the technology transfer from Japanese companies.[18] Records also show 300,000 won per death was used to compensate victims of forced labor between 1975 and 1977.[16]

See also

Citations
  1. Oda, Shigeru. "The Normalization of Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea," The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 1967), pp. 35-56.
  2. https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20136/volume-136-i-1832-english.pdf
  3. Nobel Peace Prize, Eisaku Sato, Nobel laureate lecture, "The Pursuit of Peace and Japan in the Nuclear Age," December 11, 1974.
  4. KAWASE, KENJI (July 31, 2019). "Japan-South Korea dispute has roots in 1965 postwar agreement".
  5. Hook, p. 492., p. 492, at Google Books
  6. Hook, Glenn D. (2001). Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics, and Security, p. 491., p. 491, at Google Books
  7. No. 8473, UN, Japan and Republic of Korea 1965Nobel laureate lecture, "UN treaty No. 8473" 22 June 1965.
  8. "대일청구권 자금 쓴 기업들, 징용피해 지원은 '나몰라라'" [Companies benefitted by the Japanese loan and grant disregard the victims of conscription]. The Hankyoreh. May 30, 2012.
  9. 청구권자금백서 [Claim fund White Paper]. Economic Planning Board. December 20, 1976. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  10. Lee, Sue R. (2014). "Comforting the Comfort Women: Who Can Make Japan Pay". Journal of International Law. 24 (2): 509–547. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  11. "FURTHER PROMOTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING THE QUESTION OF THE PROGRAMME AND METHODS OF WORK OF THE COMMISSION," United Nation Commission on Human Rights January 4, 1996
  12. Documents show Seoul agreed to compensate its citizens over Japan's colonial rule Mainichi January 17, 2005
  13. "Compensation for Colonial Victims Is Not Just a Legal Problem," Chosun Ilbo January 17, 2005
  14. "S.Korea discloses sensitive documents". UPI.com. January 17, 2005.
  15. "Declassified Documents Could Trigger Avalanche of Lawsuits," Chosun Ilbo January 17, 2005
  16. "Seoul Demanded $364 Million for Japan's Victims Updated Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine," Chosun Ilbo January 17, 2005
  17. "Seoul ready to launch panel on Korean victims of colonial rule," Koreaherald February 11, 2005
  18. Jong sik Kong Korea Was Most Efficient in Utilizing Japanese Reparation, Dong-a Ilbo, January 19, 2005.

General and cited references
  • Hook, Glenn D. (2001). Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics, and Security. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415240970; ISBN 9780415240987; OCLC 45583501.
  • Lundqvist, Stig, et al. (1997). Nobel Lectures, including Presentation Speeches and Laureates' Biographies. 1971-1980. Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 9789810207267; ISBN 978-981-02-0727-4; OCLC 186564406.
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