South Korea proposes to compensate victims of Japan's forced labour through its public foundation

South Korea's foreign minister, Park Jin, said on Monday the government plans to compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labour through its own public foundation, instead of using funds from Japanese companies, in a move aimed at improving soured relations between the two countries.

The dispute over colonial-era forced labour has been a source of dispute between the U.S. allies, overshadowing the neighbours' political and trade relations for years.