SK officials struggle to get support for landmark ‘comfort women’ deal
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SOUTH Korean officials met former wartime sex slaves yesterday to seek support for a landmark deal with Japan, amid criticism tokyo has not fully atoned for its treatment of women forced into World War II army brothels.
On Monday, Japan offered a “heartfelt apology” and a 1 billion yen (uS$8.3 million) payment to the 46 South Korean victims still alive, under an agreement which both sides described as “final and irreversible.”
The plight of the so-called “comfort women” has been a hugely emotional issue and has marred relations with Japan for decades.
Officials of both nations hailed the deal as a breakthrough. But South Korean media and the women themselves had a mixed response, taking issue particularly with Tokyo’s refusal to accept formal legal responsibility.
Seoul’s vice foreign ministers visited two comfort women shelters yesterday to seek the victims’ support — a step which will be key to securing popular approval.
But some expressed anger, accusing the officials of complacency and of hastily wrapping up negotiations.
“Matter has not been settled. We didn’t fight for all these years to see the result like this,” frail survivor Kim Bok-dong, 89, told vice-minister Lim Sung-nam.
The long-time campaigner was lured to leave her village at the age of 14 with a promise of a factory job, but forced to serve in military brothels in China and Southeast Asia.
Lim said Seoul had tried its best to achieve some form of justice — albeit compromised — “before too late” as most victims were of an advanced age.
Japan refuses to describe the 1 billion yen as official compensation.
It has long said that all such claims were settled in a 1965 agreement which established diplomatic relations with South Korea and saw tokyo make a payment of uS$800 million in grants or loans.
South Korea says the treaty did not cover compensation for victims of wartime crimes such as sex slavery and did not absolve the Japanese government of legal responsibility.
But it has faced growing pressure from its major military ally the united States to improve ties with fellow uS ally Japan.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called for “understanding by the public and the victims” about the deal.
The agreement was welcomed by the uS, which described it “an important gesture of healing and reconciliation.”
But six civic groups, including those running the shelters, have slammed it as “humiliating” and objected to Seoul’s promise to refrain from criticizing Japan over the issue in international forums including the united Nations.
“Our longstanding wish was... clarifying legal responsibility over this crime committed by the Japanese government so that such a tragedy will never happen again,” they said in a joint statement.
“The latest agreement appears to be nothing but a diplomatic collusion that betrayed such wishes of the victims.”
Online reaction was largely critical. “how could such a humiliating and lax agreement be ‘final and irreversible’? the victims will never accept that,” was one comment.
Top-selling daily Chosun Ilbo hailed Monday’s agreement as a “positive” development but noted its limits.
“The deal made Japan admit its responsibility only indirectly and allowed it to avoid formal legal responsibility,” it said in an editorial, urging more efforts to win support from the victims.
In Japan, overall reaction from the media and opposition parties was broadly positive.
But some 200 chanting nationalists, carrying flags and singing the national anthem, lashed out at the accord at a rally outside the prime minister’s office in tokyo, calling it treacherous and disgraceful.
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