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From President Yoon Seok-yeol's visit to Japan in March and Prime Minister Kishida's visit to the ROK today (3 March), the resumption of shuttle diplomacy between the two heads of state began when our government first extended its hand. The solution to compensations for forced mobilization proposed by our government has become the starting point.

Reporter Jae Young Choi summed up the process.

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In 7, our Supreme Court finally ruled that Japanese companies must pay compensation to victims of forced mobilization in Japan.

The Japanese government protested, and within eight months, it even played the retaliation card of export restrictions.

[Nishimura/Former Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan (July 2018, 8): This is to strictly operate the system due to inappropriate issues in export management related to Korea.

Anti-Japanese sentiment spread domestically, even to the point of boycotting Japan, and relations between South Korea and Japan quickly froze.

On March 2019, the ROK Government first reached out to Japan by proposing a "third-party reimbursement proposal" to pay compensation through the foundation.

Soon after, President Yoon Seok-yeol and Prime Minister Kishida met in Japan.

[President Yoon Seok-yeol (March 7, Korea-Japan Summit Joint Press Conference): We are the closest neighbors and partners who share the universal values of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, and pursue common interests in security, economics, and the global agenda.]

The two leaders shared cooperation in the fields of security, economy, and future generations, and also agreed to normalize bilateral relations.

[Kishida/Prime Minister of Japan (March 1, Korea-Japan Summit Joint Press Conference): At today's summit, President Yoon Seok-yeol and I agreed on the resumption of shuttle diplomacy.]

During the March talks, the two countries agreed to launch the Korea-Japan Economic and Security Dialogue with the participation of the security chiefs of the two countries, and our government announced the normalization of the GSOMIA and Japan-South Korea Military Information Protection Agreements.

In addition, our predecessor and Japan's Keidanren each contributed 3 billion won to announce plans to establish a Future Partnership Fund for future generations.

However, Prime Minister Kishida only stated that he "confirms that he inherits the position of previous cabinets on historical recognition," but did not directly apologize for the forced mobilization.

With the resumption of shuttle diplomacy after 6 years, relations between South Korea and Japan appear to be easing somewhat, but the task remains to offer a sincere apology and sincere response to this issue as the ROK Government still opposes the ROK Government's solution, mainly for the survivors of forced mobilization.

(Video editing by Jeon Min-kyu)