South Korea's foreign ministry says "this is nothing more than a procedural issue'' over allegations of ``stopping the awarding of decorations to former forced laborers''

In response to suspicions that the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put the brakes on promoting the awarding of the National Order of Peony to Yang Geumdeok, a former forced laborer of the Japanese Empire, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "We oppose the award. Instead of just pointing out the need for procedural consultations associated with the Imperial Decoration Act," he argued.

Prior to this, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) released a list of "recipients for the 2022 Korean Human Rights Award" on its website in September and gathered opinions. The award was scheduled to be held at the 2022 Human Rights Day commemoration ceremony on the 9th. However, the conferment of decorations on Yang Geum-deok was not submitted to the Cabinet meeting on the 6th.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was reportedly informed of the schedule by the National Human Rights Commission just before the vice-ministerial meeting held in the middle of last week and submitted an opinion that there were procedural problems. The National Human Rights Commission's conferment of decorations must be pre-arranged at the vice-ministerial meeting before it is submitted to the State Council. On the other hand, some pointed out that the South Korean government may be trying to take a look at Japan because of negotiations on the issue of former forced laborers.

In response to this, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official met with reporters on the 8th and said, "In order for a matter to be submitted to the Cabinet meeting, it is necessary to hold a vice-ministerial consultation before the Cabinet meeting, and that has become customary." He explained, "I didn't say that the award was inappropriate, but I raised a procedural issue."

When asked why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs judges the adequacy of decorations conferred by the National Human Rights Commission, he replied, "We do not try to judge the adequacy, we only give opinions on procedural issues. What I presented," he reiterated.

However, in 2019, Lee Geum-ju, chairman of the Gwangju Bereaved Families Association of Pacific War Victims, who filed a lawsuit against Japan for former forced laborers, was awarded the Peony Medal of the People's Order. Support groups and others have criticized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for putting the brakes on Yang Geum-deok's acceptance process, out of concern that it would put a burden on negotiations with Japan.

Lawyer Lim Jae-sung, who has supported former forced laborers, posted a comment on SNS, saying, "The human rights awardees selected through the internal review process of an independent organization called the National Human Rights Commission will be awarded domestically. Do we even have to look at the complexion of foreign countries?" he shouted.