Going too far

Abe should not make false claims over retaliation

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must have gone too far in defending Tokyo's export restrictions against South Korea over wartime forced labor issues. on Sunday, he insinuated the retaliatory measure has to do with international sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests. He seemed to call into question Seoul's efforts to abide by the sanctions.

Appearing at a campaign debate program of Fuji TV ahead of the upper house election set for late this month, Abe said it is clear to him that the South does not honor promises with other countries. So he said it is natural for him to assume Seoul will not observe trade restrictions against the North.

To paraphrase what he said, Abe was apparently trying to raise the possibility of South Korea violating sanctions against the North. Why was he doing this? It is possibly because the South's Supreme Court ruled last year that Japanese firms should pay compensation to Koreans forced into labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule on the peninsula.

For his part, Abe has already argued that the ruling violated the 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic ties between the two countries. His position is that all indemnity claims over damages arising from the occupation period were settled by the treaty. However, that is a far cry from Seoul's stance that individual claims have yet to be settled.

Nevertheless, it is absurd for Abe to link the export restrictions to sanctions against the North. When Japan started to implement its measure against the South last Thursday, Abe vaguely cited two reasons: Japan's trust with South Korea was broken and an improper incident took place over export management.

Now he has made it clear that his export restrictions are in retaliation against the forced labor ruling. During the TV debate, Abe refused to elaborate on the incident. However, it is clear that he mentioned the incident in an apparent bid to raise an allegation that Seoul might not comply with sanctions against Pyongyang.

The allegation followed a claim Friday by Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda that there are fears that chemical materials, which can be diverted for military purposes, might be sent to North Korea. He appeared to signal that some strategic materials could end up in the North through the South.

It is nonsense to make such a claim. There is no evidence that Seoul has violated the international sanctions to help North Korea, although President Moon Jaein once called for sanctions relief to facilitate the North's denuclearization.

Taken overall, Abe and his nationalist government seem to have found a lame excuse to justify economic retaliation against South Korea. Tokyo should not attempt to use trade as a weapon to resolve its diplomatic dispute with Seoul. It is a dangerous means to do harm to not only Japan, but also its neighbor and the world.