日韓局長、元徴用工など協議　進展乏しく

　【ソウル時事】訪韓中の船越健裕・外務省アジア大洋州局長は２１日、ソウルで韓国外務省の李相烈アジア太平洋局長と、元徴用工問題などについて協議した。
　日本側関係者によると、夕食も含め約３時間２０分議論した。日本企業に賠償を命じた元徴用工訴訟に関し、日本側は「（韓国内資産の）現金化は絶対に避けなければならない」として、日本が受け入れ可能な解決策を韓国側が早期に示すよう要求。日本政府に賠償を命じた元慰安婦訴訟についても韓国側の適切な措置を求めた。
　関係者は韓国側の発言を紹介しなかったが、「何かすごく新しい話が出てきたわけではない。従来に基づく韓国側の主張だ」と述べ、進展に乏しかったことを示唆した。（2021/06/21-22:28）

Senior Japanese and South Korean foreign ministry official held talks on wartime labor and other issues in Seoul on Monday.
   The talks between Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the Japanese ministry, and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Sang-ryeol, lasted about three hours and 20 minutes, including over dinner, according to Japanese sources with access to the meeting.
   Over South Korean court rulings that ordered Japanese firms to pay compensation to South Koreans requisitioned to work for them during World War II, the Japanese side urged Seoul to present a solution acceptable to Japan at an early date, saying that the companies' assets seized by South Korean plaintiffs in the lawsuits must never be converted into cash.
   The Japanese side also called on South Korea to take appropriate measures over South Korean court orders for the Japanese government to pay compensation to former South Korean comfort women, who served as prostitutes for Japanese troops before and during the war, including those forced to do so against their will.
   The Japanese sources said that the talks were fruitless, noting that the South Korean side did not make a fresh proposal and that the country reiterated its conventional stance.