As the U.S. rallies its regional allies against China and North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is working to improve relations with the country’s former colonizer Japan. However, the South Korean opposition party is strongly protesting this move toward reconciliation, which could lead to obstacles in the future.

Yoon has already upset the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) by deciding that Seoul, rather than Tokyo, would compensate Korean victims of forced labor during the colonial era. In response to Yoon’s decision, the DP labeled it as humiliating, and one former victim said, “I won't accept [South Korean money] even if I starve to death.