Foreign minister scolded for 'doing nothing' with Japan on sex slaves

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Former World War II sex slaves accused Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan Wednesday of "doing nothing" to get Japan to resolve their long-standing grievances.

Kim held a rare meeting with two of the aging women earlier in the day as frustration in Korea runs high with Japan for snubbing calls by Seoul to hold talks to resolve the issue of so-called "comfort women," a euphemistic reference to Korean women forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during World War II. At their first meeting with a foreign minister, one of the two women criticized Kim for making no effort to settle the issue with Japan.

"What has the foreign ministry done?" Lee Yong-soo, a former comfort woman in her 80s, asked Kim. "It has been doing nothing for the past two decades."

"Do we have to wait to resolve the issue until we are all dead?" the teary-eyed Lee said.

Since 1992, the aging women have held weekly rallies outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, demanding compensation and an apology from Tokyo. Last month, they held their 1,000th protest. In response to Lee's emotional remarks, Kim said he was "sorry" for failing to address the issue with Japan.

The subject of sex slaves is one of the most emotional and unresolved issues between Korea and Japan. The Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910 through 1945. Tokyo has acknowledged its wartime military used sex slaves but refuses to issue an apology or compensate the victims individually, arguing the issue was settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.

While demanding official bilateral talks on the compensation issue, Korean officials have stressed the issue cannot be regarded as fully resolved by the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement because it was a "crime against humanity." The issue is becoming an increasingly urgent priority as the surviving comfort women are elderly and fear they may die before they receive compensation or an apology from Japan.

In 1992, a total of 234 former wartime sex slaves took part in the first rally, but only 63 remain alive. (Yonhap)

Source: koreatimes

Comments

[geonitacka.livejournal.com]

And the struggles continue....:/

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

I fear that yes they will wait til they are dead before they give them some sort of plaque or momument and as for money they won't give it. Sad, heart goes out to them.
This is so rude and foul.

[x-doctess.livejournal.com]

This is what I'm fearing as well =/

[soundczech.livejournal.com]

i suspect the korean government is hesitant about pushing too hard on this because previous legal challenges to japan's original compensation agreements have ended up with the victim's own government paying them further compensation as the courts found japan had already fulfilled their end of the treaty. (http://www.btinternet.com/~FEPOW/compensation.htm) there were similar cases in the US. japan certainly has a moral case to answer for, but legally it seems like a grey area.