Lawmakers seek end to sex slavery settlement
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea’s opposition politicians yesterday called for nullifying a settlement reached between Seoul and Tokyo on compensation for South Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military in World War II.
Their statements on the anniversary of the deal came amid growing efforts to erase some of the key policies of impeached President Park Geun-hye.
On Tuesday, facing political and public pressure, the Education Ministry backtracked from a much-criticized plan to require middle and high schools to use only state-issued history textbooks from next year.
Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said the party will work to invalidate the sex slave agreement if it wins the presidential elections that could take place in just months, echoing similar promises made by the party’s potential candidates.
Kim Gyeong-rok, spokesman for the People’s Party, criticized the Park administration for “selling away” the victims’ honor and dignity, and said the issue couldn’t be resolved without Japan apologizing and admitting legal responsibility.
Protests at Japan deal
Under the agreement, Japan pledged to give a billion yen (US$8.5 million) to a foundation to help support the former sex slaves. South Korea, in exchange, vowed to refrain from criticizing Japan over the issue. The deal was widely criticized in South Korea.
Hundreds of protesters gathered around a statute of a girl symbolizing South Korean sexual slavery victims near a street in Seoul where Japan has been reconstructing its embassy building, calling for the agreement to be scrapped and the foundation to be dissolved.
It’s unclear whether South Korea could reverse an agreement both governments described as “irreversible.” Park’s conservative ruling party criticized Woo, accusing him of attacking the deal without proposing alternatives and acting as if his party had already won the presidential race.
Park, who was impeached by the country’s opposition-controlled parliament over a corruption scandal on December 9, had endorsed the state history textbooks, saying it would inspire patriotism in students. Her critics saw the books as an attempt to whitewash the days that preceded the country’s bloody transition toward democracy in the 1980s.
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