Yoon said he was confident his new plan to compensate victims would work, telling media including AFP in a written interview that"the Japanese government will join us in opening a new chapter of Korea-Japan relations".
Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during its colonial rule of the peninsula from 1905 to 1945, according to data from Seoul.Yoon is eager to lay the historic dispute to rest as he seeks closer ties with Tokyo - a key regional ally of Seoul's security partner Washington - in the face of growing threats from North Korea.
Both South Korea and Japan are ramping up defence spending and joint military exercises, which Yoon said were essential for regional and global stability. But his moves to draw closer to Japan have been criticised as"insulting" to victims of forced labour by South Korean activists, and run contrary to some court rulings.