Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot back at the South Korean government’s stance on a 2015 bilateral agreement on “comfort women” on Friday, raising the risk that the landmark deal could yet unravel.
“We cannot accept South Korea’s unilateral demands for additional measures,” Abe told reporters, according to agencies. “We have been sincere in executing every promise we made. We want to continue to strongly ask South Korea to do the same.”
Abe’s comments follow statements made by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday in his new year press conference, by his Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in a separate press briefing the day prior, and the findings of a government-mandated investigation into the 2015 agreement at the end of last year.
The December 2015 agreement was negotiated, on Seoul’s side, by the previous administration of President Park Geun-hye, who is currently in detention after being impeached in early 2017.
Although Moon and Kang both stated this week that – despite the findings of the investigation – they would not try to renegotiate the “final and irreversible” 2015 deal reached between the two governments, their statements have undermined public confidence in an agreement that was rejected by activist groups in Korea as soon as it was made public. And the independent probe, headed by a left-leaning journalist, criticized the 2015 agreement for being politically expedient rather than victim-centric.
In December 2015, the two governments agreed to drop the controversy over “comfort women” – sex workers, many of whom claim to have been coerced, tricked or forced to service Japanese troops in World War II – which has dogged ties since the early 1990s, as an inter-government issue. Tokyo agreed to make an official apology and pay 1 billion yen (US$9 million) in compensation. Seoul, in return, agreed to discuss the removal of a comfort woman statue from outside its Japanese embassy, along with related activists.
“We have been sincere in executing every promise we made. We want to continue to strongly ask South Korea to do the same”
Abe issued an apology which was widely carried in global media. Tokyo paid compensatory funds in 2016. But the Seoul statue remained, and, subsequently, another one was erected outside the Japanese consulate in the city of Busan. Tokyo recalled its ambassador in protest, alleging bad faith.
Earlier this week, both Moon and Kang both made clear that they would like further “heartfelt” apologies from Japan. They also said that they would freeze the remaining compensation Japan had paid, and would instead use Korean funds to donate to surviving victims. It is unclear what will happen to the funds in escrow, although Moon indicated that he is open to negotiations with Japan on how to use those monies.
The fact that 34 out of 46 Korean victims then living had, by the end of December 2016, accepted or stated their intention to receive the Japanese compensation, has been underreported in Korean media.
With Abe responding to Moon by wading into the fray with his first public comments on the issue, the risk is rising that – even though both administrations are still paying lip service to the 2015 deal – neither Seoul nor Tokyo feels bound by it.
As a result, the comfort women issue, which had been dormant for two years at government level, could re-ignite, straining a wide range of bilateral links that extend far beyond diplomacy.
Read: Comfort women issue undermines security relationships
For the United States, which seeks stronger ties between the two Northeast Asian democracies to counter North Korea and China in an economically and strategically vital region, that outcome would be grim.
The South Korean public – educated to view Japanese colonial rule (1910-45) as the darkest area of their history, to the point that comfort women are often conflated with victims of the Nazi holocaust – is distrustful and suspicious of Japan, providing fertile ground for anti-Japanese activism and reporting. Due to this deep-rooted and emotive hostility, any defense ties between Seoul and Tokyo are extremely difficult for the Korean government to sell to its public.
Meanwhile, Abe, who has a right-wing support base, is also playing to the public gallery. According to Japanese media reports, the Japanese president, who had been considering attending the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month as a goodwill gesture, is now reconsidering that visit.
War is a terrible thing and awful atrocities happen routinely, as part of war.
Korea can be happy, along with most of the rest of Asia, that Japan lost the war.
This loss of war, did not come easily, but cost many hundred of thousands of soldiers lives, livelyhoods and affected all their families.
That is history and done. Japan paid a terrible price for narcissism.
All those soldiers from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, etc etc do not now go begging to Japan for retribution.
Korea is a rich country with a proud story of success and really need not engage in haggling over atrocities in the past, however terrible they surely were.
Would be a good idea to erect a comfort woman statue in everyl city of South Korea, Philippines and China where comfort women had been forced to evil sex trade under the infamous japanese soldiers. This will bring shame to Abe and Japan. The world can then see how thick the skin Abe and Japan has.
Al Johnson The far east military court set up in Tokyo summarily ended its prosecution of Japanese war criminals after US interference. Case in point, war criminal Hirohito escape prosecution after private meeting with US general McArthur. Same with the head of Japanese infamous 731 biological team who passed over their
ill gotten biological and chemical warfare research paper.
It would be a terrible idea for a number of reasons, but I will present two.
1. The Comfort Women were investigated by the Allies and were found to have been a system of professional prostitution and NOT sex slavery….(As a side note the USSR and KMT held trials and did NOT think that Comfort Women were sex slaves either based on the cases brought forward),
So why would you make a statue to a lie? False accusations in some cases are as damaging as actual crimes. Especially ones that engender ethnic/racial hatred and fuel future conflict as this one is doing.
2. Putting a statue to a lie in front of the places you mentioned only has one net effect: Distracting those people and governments from the reality today.
That reality is that the governments and people need to band together to counter the threats from agressive militaristic nations like China and North Korea. In addition, by focusing on sex slavery 80 years ago, it distracts from one of the largest operators of sex slavery today: China. Whose Bachelor Villages untold numbers of Southeast Asian women dissapear into every year, never to be seen from their families again.
So no, putting a statue in all those nations is a terrible idea. It both distorts history and distorts the nature of political relations today.
Another balanced article, it is excellent to see that many Western writers are departing from the "cut/paste" narrative of the last few years and actually doing research and investigating.
The question that needs to be asked in this case of tension between Japan and South Korea is "who benefits."?
Japan of course does not benefit, but neither does South Korea. By isolating each other, both suffer on multiple levels from reduced tourism exchanges and funds, to meaningful bilarteral agreements that extend not only in the economic realm, but security and defense as well as Andrew Salmon and others are starting to point out.
One possible answer is the North Koreans and Communist Chinese. By the age old tactic of diviiding allies, they weaken South Korean ability to effectively join in an effective way any alliance that includes Japan in order to negotiate from a position of strength. Collectively, South Korea would gain many advantages. Isolated from Japan, and increasingly the US, South Korea is much weaker, and susceptable to North Korean and CCP machinations in the region.
Al Johnson Who is distorting history? Simply put, you are.
Why not erect statues of SE Asian women all over SE Asia and elsewhere to protest the crimes being committed by PRC to deal with sexually-starved Chinese bachelors? http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pregnant-12-year-old-girl-9035810; https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/aug/26/ready-married-kidnapped-brides-vietnam-china?CMP=fb_gu
Yes, by bringing up the Holocaust shows utter ignorance at all levels, including how Jewish people view the issue. But since it’s been brought up, the real Asian Holocaust took place during the Cultural Revolution. What makes it even worse is Mao slaughtering tens of millions of his own people, not ‘enemies,’ and for what?
One must never equate German actions in WWII to Japanese atrocities in Asia.
What the Japansese did in Korea and China was worse than what Germans did to Jews. The Germans were simply taking revenge for rich capitalist Jews like Rothschilds ruining their economy in the Weimar Republic. It is sad that poor Jews paid the price of scheming by their rich co-religionists.
Japanese invasion on Korea and China was pure aggression and colonialism.
Syed,
Unfortunately you are incorrect. Go back and re-study the history of Eastern Europe during WWII. The targeted genocide against the Jews and ethnic cleansing and enslavement of the Slavs was on a deliberate industrial scale not seen in Asia until the Communist Chinese in the 1950s and 1960s. The Japanese did not approach that level of genocide at all. Further, since the article specificaly mentions Korea, we have to address the fact that Korea WAS Japan at the time and many of the Japanese soldiers were ethnic Koreans (not to mention the 5 to 6 million Chinese who at various times either collaborated directly with the Japanese or indirectly allied with them against other warlords).
So you are incorrect in this matter.
In addition, to state that "The Germans were simply taking revenge for rich capitalist Jews like Rothschilds" is another ignorant statement. Anti Semetism ran deeper in the minds of many Germans and Eastern Europeans well before the events at the end of WWI and the demise of the Weimar Republic. Note the Slavs had nothing to do with the end of Germany at that time yet the Nazis attacked them as well…..
John Chang ,
Simply put, you are incorrect. Or at least illustrate which part of history you claim I am distorting.
It is clear from the record that the Comfort Women system as a whole was one of contracted prostitutes and not sex slavery. Or were you confusing China’s "Bachelor Villages" under the current dictator Xi for the Comfort Women in the article?
Al Johnson Simply put you are posting misinformation and lies. Of course you are not Asian and I dont expect you to understand the Asian values and history. Japan has never truly repented and there lies the crux of the problem unlike Germany which has long repented and moved on.
John Chang Funny to call out someone not being Asian while drawing a parallel between the Holocaust and comfort women. You’re neither German nor Jewish, so why don’t you stop equating the two that have no bearing whatsoever? You speak of ‘Asian values,’ but there is a difference between values of Communist China and the rest. Perhaps you need to reflect on that first.
John Chang You are at a loss for words. Your 3PLA spy training has little depth when it comes to truth. What Al says is right.
You are trying to make very cheap and nasty points against your opponent Japan.
In doing so, you have no problems in revising history, and in fact, inciting hatred and making false accusations.
Your conduct here is beyond shameful.
你玷污了你的祖先
John Chang ,
Again, you are displaying a neo fascist version of historical truth. You present race as a defense against your historical view.
That does not work in the civilized world.
We deal in facts and what can be verified. To try and nullify a position because I am white or "a dirty Jew" as Francis "Fascist" Yeo stated is laughable, and only serves to highlight the void in your argument.
Again, I invite you to point out specificly what I presented that was not fact based.
Vic Mason Yes indeed.
The last thing the Communist regime is prepared to tolerate in China, is a civil society that in any way approaches societies seen in almost all other parts of the world.
The purge against corruption, often touted, is a sham, used to persecute and punish.
See this, of course Youtube is not allowed in CCP China, along with most other freedoms.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ5A0TdEzjI
Al Johnson Not a surprising view from someone protecting Japanese investment to ASEAN countries, but still need to fact check, not parrot the Japanese government’s jaded view of history. Calling the "comfort women" contracted prostitutes is both insulting and inaccurate.