South Korea and Japan yesterday reached a landmark agreement to resolve the issue of “comfort women,” as those who were forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels were euphemistically known, which has long plagued ties between the neighbors.
The foreign ministers of the two countries said after a meeting in Seoul that the comfort women issue would be “finally and irreversibly resolved” if all conditions were met.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to take the opportunity to boost bilateral ties soon after the agreement by the foreign ministers.
Photo: Reuters
The accord is likely to be welcomed by the US, which has been keen for improved relations between its two major Asian allies in the face of an increasingly assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.
Strains between Tokyo and Seoul have prevented the two countries from signing an agreement to share sensitive military information, so a year ago they signed a three-way pact under which Seoul routes its information to the US, which then passes it on to Japan, and vice versa.
Park “hoped that since the two governments worked through a difficult process to reach this agreement, they can cooperate closely to start building trust and open a new relationship,” her office quoted her as saying to Abe.
Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Japan has apologized and expressed its remorse, but added future Japanese generations should not have to keep on doing so.
“We should never allow this problem to drag on into the next generation,” he said, echoing remarks he made marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15. “From now on, Japan and South Korea will enter a new era.”
Japan was “painfully aware of its responsibilities” for the affront to the women’s honor and dignity, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida told a news conference in Seoul with his South Korean counterpart.
“Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences,” Kishida said.
Calling the agreement “epoch-making,” Kishida later told reporters: “I believe this has set up a stage for advancement of security cooperation between Japan and South Korea, as well as among Japan, the United States and South Korea.”
Japan is to draw on its government budget to contribute about ￥1 billion (US$8.3 million) to a fund that is to help the former comfort women and work with South Korea to run a program to restore their honor and dignity, Kishida said.
Academics continue to debate the number of women exploited. Activists in South Korea say there might have been as many as 200,000 Korean victims, only a few of whom came forward.
Only 46 survivors remain of the 238 women in South Korea who came forward, and their average age is 89.
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se said he valued Japan’s efforts.
“On the premise that the steps pledged by the Japanese government are earnestly carried out, the [South] Korean government confirms that the matter [of comfort women] is finally and irreversibly resolved,” Yun told the news conference.
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