South Korea Weighing 'Various Scenarios' In Row With Japan Over Forced Labor - Reports

South Korea has several options on the table with regard to how to handle its row with Japan over wartime forced labor, and they will be applied depending on Japan's reaction to Seoul defying deadline to pick a country that would arbitrate in their dispute, South Korean media said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) South Korea has several options on the table with regard to how to handle its row with Japan over wartime forced labor, and they will be applied depending on Japan's reaction to Seoul defying deadline to pick a country that would arbitrate in their dispute, South Korean media said on Thursday.

"We are considering various scenarios depending on how Japan will move," South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an anonymous diplomat as saying.

South Korea's top court ordered two Japanese companies last year to compensate former workers whom they exploited during Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945.

Japan has argued that the ruling violated the countries' 1965 treaty and imposed tight controls on technology-related exports to South Korea earlier in July, citing broken trust in its neighbor. Tokyo has denied that the two developments are linked.

Fears are that export restrictions on materials used to make smartphone displays and microchips could affect technology companies globally. The deadline for Seoul to respond to Tokyo's offer on independent arbitration expires at midnight.