PROTEST OVER GOV’T COMPENSATION PLAN

[Anchor Lead]

Regarding the government's announcement of its plan to compensate Korean victims of wartime forced labor, the victims said the government's offer is more humiliating and worse than the 2015 agreement to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery. Civic groups also held a mass rally Monday night demanding the government to withdraw its plan.

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Some 400 people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall. They called on the government to withdraw its plan to compensate Korean victims of wartime forced labor. They called the plan invalid because there is no direct payment and apology from responsible Japanese firms.

[Soundbite] Lee Na-young(Chair, The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance) : "How can the public understand the idea to exonerate Japan for its crimes against humanity on the pretext of improving relations with Japan?"

95-year-old victim Yang Keum-deok took to the streets again. She denounced the government's proposal for lacking the measures demanded by the victims. She said it's an exoneration for Japan and a diplomatic disgrace for Korea.

[Soundbite] Yang Keum-deok(Victim of Japanese wartime forced labor) : "Is President Yoon S. Korean or Japanese? Does he live for S. Korean people or Japanese people? I will never accept such money even if I starve to death."

Representatives of victims said the government's offer is more humiliating and worse than the 2015 agreement to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery. They said it is wrong for the government to say it proposed the plan in consideration of aged victims, when all the three surviving victims oppose it.

[Soundbite] Kim Young-hwan(The Center for Historical Truth and Justice) : "Victims’ demand for offenders to apologize and compensate them has been met with an insulting reply that they should receive any money before they die."

For the four victims who have agreed to the government's proposal, compensation will be paid and the process to end Japan's liabilities will begin. The victims rejecting the government's offer plan to continue their legal action to receive damages directly from responsible Japanese firms.

[Soundbite] Lim Jae-sung(Victims’ attorney) : "As responsible Japanese firms exist, there is a lot of rights the victims can exercise based on the final rulings."

Yang and another victim, Kim Sung-joo, voiced their opposition in a protest held in front of the National Assembly on Tuesday.