Up to 200,000 women, many of them Korean, are estimated to have been sexually enslaved by Japan during World War II.
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South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se considers the agreement “final and irreversible”, as long as Japan faithfully follows through with its promises.
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Abe directly apologized twice via a statement by the foreign minister and in a phone call with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.
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Only 46 known former Korean sex slaves, most in their late 80s and 90s, are still alive, and with time running out and with frustration growing, the deal is seen by many here as the best to be had from a hawkish Abe government.
“Japan and South Korea are now entering a new era”, Mr Abe told reporters afterwards.
“The comfort women issue is an issue whereby many women under the then-military’s involvement bore deep scars to their honor and dignity, and from this perspective, the Japanese government acutely feels responsible”, said Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida at a joint news conference.
While calling the Japanese government the main perpetrator of the crime, they said the agreement amounted to diplomatic collusion that went against the wishes of the people.
Park told the Japanese prime minister that she “hoped that since the two governments worked through a hard process to reach this agreement, they can cooperate closely to start building trust and open a new relationship”, according to a statement from her office.
The US today welcomed the agreement reached between Japan and South Korea on the issue of “comfort women” during World War II saying it supports it.
During talks in the South Korean capital, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also relayed the apparently heartfelt remorse of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – who was previously accused of trying to whitewash history.
– Both sides confirm that the issue of so-called comfort women will be resolved finally and irreversibly.
Japan has said there was no change to its stance that the matter of compensation was settled by a 1965 bilateral treaty.
It’s an issue which has held back ties between Japan and South Korea for years, and is also a sticking point in Sino-Japanese ties, as Chinese women too were also forced to work in brothels. Activists who have been advocating for justice on behalf of the sex slaves argue that the document does not represent the sex slaves’ views or desires.
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Lee Yong-soo, 88, said, “I wonder whether the talks took place with the victims really in mind”. In response, Yun said, “I’m glad that we can declare the conclusion of the [so-called comfort women] issue by finishing the extremely hard negotiations conducted so far by the end of this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties”.
