By Yi Whan-woo
Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine has still not returned to Korea after Japan recalled him, Jan. 9, in the wake of a dispute over a statute of a girl ― symbolizing Korean sex slaves during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rules ― being placed in front of Japan's consulate in Busan.
Nagamine is the first Japanese ambassador to Seoul who has been temporarily removed from his post for the longest period of time. In 2012, Masatoshi Muto returned to Seoul after Japan recalled him in protest of then-President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Dokdo, a Korean islet which is also claimed by Japan.
Diplomatic sources said Thursday that Nagamine has been managing to take care of his job here while in Japan.
They said it remains uncertain when he will return, citing a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Jan. 19.
They concluded back then that Japan will "closely monitor Korea's response" concerning the dispute over Tokyo's sex slavery before deciding whether to have him to return to work here.
The sources remained skeptical about Nagamine's early return amid the intensified diplomatic conflict over the statue.
The statue joins others in Korea and abroad. Tokyo has been paranoid about them, especially the one set up outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul
Japan recalled Nagamine, claiming that such the placement of the statue in Busan was an act violating the agreement reached between the two neighbors in December 2015 over Tokyo's wartime sex slavery.
Citing a foreign ministry official, Japan's Jiji Press reported Thursday that Tokyo plans to call the statues "comfort women statues."
This is seen as an attempt to cover up the fact that Korean teenagers were forcibly taken for sexual servitude and instead highlight Tokyo's euphemistic usage of "comfort women" when referring to them, according to the sources.
Conservative lawmakers from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party also urged the use of the phrase "comfort women statues" over "girl statues" because "it can otherwise be seen that teenage girls were victimized."
In Korea, potential presidential candidates have been debating over the "girl statues" issue and the December 2015 agreement ahead of the election this year.
Opposition presidential hopefuls, including Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo, called for the scrapping or re-negotiation of the sex slavery deal.
Japan insisted this will not happen, citing that the agreement was "final and irrevocable."
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