South Korea's next top diplomat says 2015 'comfort women' pact with Japan is official
People rally in front of a statue symbolizing comfort women set up near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December. | KYODOApr 20, 2022
SEOUL – South Korea’s incoming Foreign Minister Park Jin said Wednesday that a bilateral agreement signed with Japan in 2015 over wartime “comfort women” is official, offering a hint of how the new government, led by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, would approach history issues with Tokyo.
The term “comfort women” is a euphemism for those who suffered under Japan’s military brothel system before and during World War II. They were forced or coerced into sexual servitude under various circumstances, including abduction, deception and poverty.
The two countries signed a deal in December 2015 to put an end to the historical feud over the women. However, the current Moon Jae-in government that came into office in 2017 described it as “seriously flawed,” after which bilateral ties sank to the lowest point in years.
“The agreement on ‘comfort women’ is an official one, and the current Moon Jae-in administration also acknowledges it. The most important part is joint efforts from South Korea and Japan to recover the honor and dignity of the victims,” Park told reporters.
Based on the 2015 accord, Japan paid ¥1 billion and the money was distributed through a foundation to former comfort women and the families of those who died.
South Korea’s incoming Foreign Minister Park Jin | YONHAP / VIA KYODOIn 2019, however, the foundation was dissolved after the Moon administration concluded that the deal, reached under a previous government, failed to properly reflect the women’s wishes.
Regarding Yoon’s delegation visiting Japan from Sunday ahead of his inauguration on May 10, Park said its meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is still being arranged.
The dispatch of the seven-member delegation, however, has stirred concerns among South Korean civic groups, as it includes Lee Sang-deok, who negotiated the 2015 deal with Japan.
“South Korea’s incoming government should go to the discussion table with Japan after sincerely listening to the victims and public opinion,” the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said in a statement released Tuesday.
The civic group also expressed worries that Yoon would try to quickly settle the row with Japan without fully considering the former comfort women’s sentiment for the sake of “normalizing” and “recovering South Korea-Japan ties.”
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