<span style="color: #222222;">South Korea took a step towards improving ties with rival Japan by announcing a plan today to raise local civilian funds to compensate Koreans who won damages against Japanese companies that enslaved them during Tokyo's 35-year colonial rule. The plan reflects South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's determination to mend frayed ties with Japan and solidify security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to better cope with North Korea's nuclear threats.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin has said, the victims would be compensated through a local foundation that would be funded by civilian donations. During a televised news conference, Foreign Minister Park Jin said, South Korea and Japan were at a new window of opportunity to overcome their conflicts and build future-oriented relations. Mr Park did not elaborate on how the foundation would be financed. But in January, Shim Kyu-sun, chairperson of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilisation by Imperial Japan, which would be handling the reparations, said, the funds would come from South Korean companies that benefited from a 1965 Seoul-Tokyo treaty that normalised their relations.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' US President Joe Biden hailed the plan as a new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States' closest allies. In a statement, President Biden said, he looked forward to enhancing trilateral ties. He said, Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are taking a critical step to forge a future for the Korean and Japanese people that is safer, more secure, and more prosperous.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' The 1965 accord was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul that were used in development projects carried out by major South Korean companies, including POSCO, now a global steel giant.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Ties between Seoul and Tokyo have long been complicated by grievances related to Japan's rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilised as forced labourers for Japanese companies during World War II.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />''Their disputes intensified after South Korea's Supreme Court in 2018 ordered two Japanese companies – Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate former Korean forced labourers or their relatives.</span><br />