S. Korea to propose talks with Japan soon over former wartime sex slaves

[unreal.livejournal.com]

South Korea will soon propose holding talks with Japan to discuss the issue of Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, a senior government official said Thursday.

South Korean officials have called on Japan to take more sincere steps on the matter since the nation's top court ruled last week that it is unconstitutional for Seoul to take no specific action to settle the dispute with Tokyo over its refusal to compensate the victims forced to serve Japan's military.

The issue of the former sex slaves, euphemistically called "comfort women," is one of the most emotional unresolved issues between South Korea and Japan. The Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910-45.


"We take the Constitutional Court's ruling on the issue of comfort women with seriousness and humility and will soon propose holding consultations with Japan to discuss the issue," the foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

The official said the proposal would be made as early as this week or next week.

In addition, the ministry will soon set up a task force to review what measures it can take to resolve the issue, beyond diplomatic actions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said last week, "The formation of the arbitration committee (with Japan) could also be taken into consideration as an option."

According to historians, up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese brothels during World War II.

Japan has acknowledged its wartime military used sex slaves, but refuses to directly compensate or apologize to victims individually, maintaining that all claims were settled with South Korea by the postwar Treaty of Basic Relations with South Korea in 1965. Under the pact, South Korea received US$800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan.

Japan's former wartime sexual enslavement is becoming an increasingly urgent priority as most victims are elderly and fear they may die before they receive compensation or an apology from Japan.

Source: yonhapnews

Comments

[nissy-angel.livejournal.com]

oh dear lord. I'll eat my hat, if that day ever comes.

[nyappnyappcafe.livejournal.com]

Compensations is still nice, but that doesn't do justice to what those women were subjected to.

I'd be asking to kick every single sack involved.
Wouldn't solve anything, but it'd feel damn good.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

If Japan waits another 50 years, there will probably be no one left to make a claim.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

That's probably their intention. :-(

[cher-ex3.livejournal.com]

MTE.

[tadaki.livejournal.com]

Not gonna happen SK.

[amy.livejournal.com]

tbh i doubt many of those women care as much about the monetary compensation as they do the apology. they deserve that formal apology.

[gumiho.livejournal.com]

this.

[kayleen-san.livejournal.com]

this.

[wushuhimexx.livejournal.com]

I can think of multitudes of things that should be brought up about the Japanese during WWII.

I doubt that anything meaningful will come of this.

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

Uhm, Jugun Ianfu, it happened in my country too, during WW II/the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. It practically happened in all area/countries which was occupied by Japan at that time.
A sincere apology would be nice. A confession on the Japanese history book would be even better. Compensation? years too late. I don't think the women would care so much for material stuffs. The scars can't be healed with money.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

The scars can't be healed with money.

It's true, what they want most is for it to get into textbooks at schools, but the new programme for the government is to "only show things people can feel proud of," so they're debating on actually taking out what extremely little they have mentioned in history books.

[purpledna.livejournal.com]

YESSSS leaving it out of their history books is so...WUT. how is that even possible.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

When I see Japan actually take some action to listen to the demands of the actual women who were subjected to the horror of being raped every day, all day for years, I'll believe it.

These women protest every Thursday (I believe, or it might be Tuesday) in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul for Japan to give their situation recognition, personal compensation (that money went to the Korean government, not these women directly), and to make sure that future generations of Japanese children be taught what happen so that it can never happen again.

I watched the most heartbreaking documentary about this back in the spring, and I was almost physically ill hearing what the Japanese army did to them, personally. It wasn't only Korean women, but I believe the statistic was about 85% Korean women who were kidnapped and forced into sexual enslavement. The film isn't going to be wide spread until after these women die to protect them, but I wish it could get out there so that more people can see how blatantly the Japanese government has ignored this.