One former forced laborer agrees to ”third-party payment” - South Korean report

On the 23rd, Yang Geum-deok (95), a former South Korean forced laborer, accepted the so-called "third-party payment proposal" proposed by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang received compensation and late interest on the same day as the Supreme Court's final ruling on former forced labor cases.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "The Japanese Empire Forced Mobilization Victims Support Foundation announced on the same day that it would pay a debt to one survivor who expressed willingness to accept the government's settlement proposal regarding the Supreme Court's ruling on former forced laborers.
Yang, who was conscripted by Japan in 1944 and forced to do hard labor at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Nagoya Aircraft Works, has been traveling between Japan and South Korea since 1992.
He has testified about the suffering of former forced laborers. However, since November of last year, he has been hospitalized in a nursing home due to old age and dementia.
The “Association of Citizens of Japanese Imperial Forced Mobilization” said, “We have received complaints from families regarding the acceptance of the third-party payment proposal.
"We have heard his story, but we don't know if it was of Yang's own volition due to his dementia," the report said. Yang's family is reportedly keeping quiet about the reason for accepting the compensation.
With this payment, 12 former forced laborers and their families out of the 15 plaintiffs who received the Supreme Court's final ruling in 2018 have now received the payment.
As a result, the only survivor who is refusing to accept compensation is Lee Chun-sik (104 years old).