Calls for boycott of Japan grow in South Korea as labour row simmers

South Korean merchants step on boxes bearing logos of Japanese products during a rally to declare a boycott of Japanese goods in Seoul, South Korea, July 5, 2019. Yonhap via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) - Calls in South Korea for a boycott of Japanese goods in response to Japanese restrictions on the export of high-tech material to South Korea picked up on Monday, as a dispute over compensation for forced wartime labour roiled ties between the U.S. allies.

The dispute is the latest flashpoint in a relationship long over-shadowed by South Korean resentment of Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, in particular South Korean “comfort women”, a Japanese euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during World War Two.