Japan has requested the formation of an arbitration panel involving a third country to resolve a dispute over a South Korean Supreme Court ruling that ordered Japanese firms to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.
Kenji Kanasugi, the director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, made the request on Wednesday with a senior official from the South Korean embassy in Tokyo.
Kanasugi expressed regret that Seoul did not appoint an arbitrator by Tuesday, which was the deadline following Tokyo's May 20th proposal, as stipulated by a 1965 bilateral accord.
South Korea has taken a cautious approach to the issue, respecting the decision made by its judiciary. Japan, however, continues to argue that all colonial-era reparation issues were settled under the 1965 deal.
After its proposal to settle the dispute diplomatically was dismissed, Tokyo requested bilateral arbitration in May.
The third step in the dispute settlement process involves referring the case to a commission involving a neutral third-party country that is agreed upon by both sides.