By Yi Whan-woo
The government of former President Park Geun-hye kept sensitive parts of its December 2015 agreement with Japan over "comfort women" secret, the chief of an investigation into the deal said Wednesday.
Oh Tai-kyu, who led the Ministry of Foreign Affair's taskforce aimed at uncovering the hidden details behind the agreement, also said Cheong Wa Dae virtually led the relevant negotiations.
The findings implied speculation that the Moon Jae-in government could ditch the controversial agreement.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono reiterated his country's view that it will never accept demands to modify the deal, claiming the two countries agreed the matter was settled "finally and irreversibly."
"The agreement was made based on rightful negotiations. We don't find any problematic procedures,"
He insisted that Korea should faithfully implement the deal, saying "The bilateral agreement is highly valued in the international community."
The taskforce's findings are contradictory to the Park administration's explanation that then-Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his counterpart Fumio Kishida openly shared details in 2015 during their verbal agreement over Japan's imperial-era mobilization of Korean women as sex slaves.
Yun expressed regret over the findings in a statement, saying "It did not assess the accord in a balanced manner."
The investigation has further resolved questions remaining behind the agreement. The mysteries included why Japan, despite Park government's denial, insisted on Seoul's responsibility to remove statues of girls installed outside Japanese diplomatic missions here. Japan has been upset about the "girl statues" that were created to highlight its wartime sex atrocities.
Korea initially did not want to include issues on "girl statues" in the agreement, but later accepted Japan's demand to do so, according to Oh.
Seoul instead proposed to keep relevant parts secret in a bid to avoid angering the public.
It also agreed on giving no support to people's efforts to erect "girl statues" around the world.
Oh said it was Cheong Wa Dae, not foreign ministry negotiators, who held the initiative in drawing up the agreement behind closed doors.
The deal was apparently made following years of talks among director-level officials of the two countries' foreign ministries.
Cheong Wa Dae even ordered officials to refrain from mentioning Japan's sexual slavery after the deal was reached
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the Moon administration "earnestly and humbly" accepted the results of months-long investigation into the agreement.
She said the government will listen to victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery before considering Seoul-Tokyo relations and finalizing its new policy accordingly.
The taskforce's 30-page report carried four major conclusions.
It concluded that the previous government did not take the opinions of the victims sufficiently seriously in its negotiation with Japan.
"It has been the international norm to take a victim-oriented approach regarding issues on women's rights during wartime. But the previous government rather struck a bargain mainly based on its own views," it said.
It added that that the conflict over "comfort women" will be repeated unless the victims find a relevant deal acceptable.
The taskforce said Park only worsened the Seoul-Tokyo relations as she underscored "comfort women" issues as a condition to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It accused high-level officials of the previous government of holding the negotiations "behind closed-doors from beginning to end."
It said Park, chief negotiators and the foreign ministry were not flexible in coping with change in international politics, either, because they failed to communicate with one other.
"The agreement shows that the government needs to take a wide range of opinions into consideration in its decision-making process and that relevant ministries should discuss sharing their roles."
The government of former President Park Geun-hye kept sensitive parts of its December 2015 agreement with Japan over "comfort women" secret, the chief of an investigation into the deal said Wednesday.
Oh Tai-kyu, who led the Ministry of Foreign Affair's taskforce aimed at uncovering the hidden details behind the agreement, also said Cheong Wa Dae virtually led the relevant negotiations.
The findings implied speculation that the Moon Jae-in government could ditch the controversial agreement.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono reiterated his country's view that it will never accept demands to modify the deal, claiming the two countries agreed the matter was settled "finally and irreversibly."
"The agreement was made based on rightful negotiations. We don't find any problematic procedures,"
He insisted that Korea should faithfully implement the deal, saying "The bilateral agreement is highly valued in the international community."
The taskforce's findings are contradictory to the Park administration's explanation that then-Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his counterpart Fumio Kishida openly shared details in 2015 during their verbal agreement over Japan's imperial-era mobilization of Korean women as sex slaves.
Yun expressed regret over the findings in a statement, saying "It did not assess the accord in a balanced manner."
The investigation has further resolved questions remaining behind the agreement. The mysteries included why Japan, despite Park government's denial, insisted on Seoul's responsibility to remove statues of girls installed outside Japanese diplomatic missions here. Japan has been upset about the "girl statues" that were created to highlight its wartime sex atrocities.
Korea initially did not want to include issues on "girl statues" in the agreement, but later accepted Japan's demand to do so, according to Oh.
Seoul instead proposed to keep relevant parts secret in a bid to avoid angering the public.
It also agreed on giving no support to people's efforts to erect "girl statues" around the world.
Oh said it was Cheong Wa Dae, not foreign ministry negotiators, who held the initiative in drawing up the agreement behind closed doors.
The deal was apparently made following years of talks among director-level officials of the two countries' foreign ministries.
Cheong Wa Dae even ordered officials to refrain from mentioning Japan's sexual slavery after the deal was reached
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the Moon administration "earnestly and humbly" accepted the results of months-long investigation into the agreement.
She said the government will listen to victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery before considering Seoul-Tokyo relations and finalizing its new policy accordingly.
The taskforce's 30-page report carried four major conclusions.
It concluded that the previous government did not take the opinions of the victims sufficiently seriously in its negotiation with Japan.
"It has been the international norm to take a victim-oriented approach regarding issues on women's rights during wartime. But the previous government rather struck a bargain mainly based on its own views," it said.
It added that that the conflict over "comfort women" will be repeated unless the victims find a relevant deal acceptable.
The taskforce said Park only worsened the Seoul-Tokyo relations as she underscored "comfort women" issues as a condition to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It accused high-level officials of the previous government of holding the negotiations "behind closed-doors from beginning to end."
It said Park, chief negotiators and the foreign ministry were not flexible in coping with change in international politics, either, because they failed to communicate with one other.
"The agreement shows that the government needs to take a wide range of opinions into consideration in its decision-making process and that relevant ministries should discuss sharing their roles."
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