Getting Off on the Wrong Foot: Rethinking the Title and Amount of Korea’s Property Claims against Japan

Abstract

Kim-Ohira Agreement, which agreed on the structure and amount of the property claims’ fund is often regarded as a turning point in resolving the issue of property claims between the Republic of Korea and Japan. However, negotiations continued for more than two years after that. It goes without saying that important discussions took place during this period as well. It is the negotiations on the details of property claims and on the importation of capital goods by deferred payment that this paper focuses. These two issues have several things in common. One is that they are related to the 1962 Agreement. The other is that the core of the problems is the nature or title of the fund, namely, whether it is a property claims’ fund or an economic cooperation fund. Ultimately, these two factors expose the incompleteness and irresponsibility of the 1962 Agreement and the agreement concerning the property claims. This is the historical significance of the KoreaJapan Agreement that this paper intends to confront.