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Sun, May 28, 2023 | 21:29
-------------------------
’Comfort women’ emerges as hot diplomatic issue
이대통령 방일 앞두고 한일관계 급랭
Posted : 2011-12-15 16:55
Updated : 2011-12-15 16:55
Kang Hyun-kyung
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The Seoul-Tokyo diplomatic spat over a statue symbolizing Japan’s wartime sex slavery set up in front of the Japanese Embassy showed signs of worsening Thursday.

A statue depicting a woman is set up in front of the Japanese Embassy during a weekly protest against Korean women victimized by Japan’s wartime practice of sexual slavery in downtown Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times
Seoul, Tokyo bicker over statue before embassy

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The Seoul-Tokyo diplomatic spat over a statue symbolizing Japan’s wartime sex slavery set up in front of the Japanese Embassy showed signs of worsening Thursday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade rebuffed Japan’s call to remove the statue installed by a civic group dedicated to fighting for compensation for Japan’s forced conscription of so-called “comfort women.”

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan pushed for the placement of the statue on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Wednesday rallies calling for an apology and compensation for the wartime atrocity despite protests from Japan.

“The comfort women issue is a fundamental, humanitarian one closely related to women’s rights. Our government’s position on the issue is that it has yet to be resolved,” Foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters during a regular briefing.

The ministry reiterated its position that the government was not in a position to exert its influence over the statue as it was erected by the civic group.

The reaction came shortly after a Japanese official renewed a call to remove the statue of a girl wearing a traditional Korean costume.

During a news conference held at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Shinsuke Sugiyama, director-general of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of Japan’s foreign ministry, called on the Korean government to ask the civic group to remove the statue.

Sugiyama was quoted as saying that Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Masashi Muto delivered an unmistakable message from Japan toward that end during a meeting with a senior foreign ministry official Wednesday.

According to the activist group, up to 200,000 Korean women were forced into providing sex to Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Of them, only 63 survive. The vast majority of the wartime slaves were allegedly killed by Japanese troops during the war. The civic group called for an official apology, compensation, and addressing the wartime crime in history books.

The comfort women issue will likely be raised during the Korea-Japan summit slated for Sunday between President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

On Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura expressed regret over the placing of the statue. Fujimura said he would request the Korean government via diplomatic channels to remove it.

Rejecting the call from Japan, Seoul urged Tokyo to hold talks to discuss compensation for the wartime sex slavery. Japan ignored the first call made three months ago.

The ministry proposed the comfort women talks after the Constitutional Court ruled the government’s failure to act over the wartime crime was unconstitutional.

According to the treaty signed between South Korea and Japan in 1965, the neighboring countries must resolve disputes through diplomatic channels first and if this doesn’t work, the two governments establish an intermediary committee to settle them.

The Constitutional Court urged the foreign ministry to take steps to resolve the problem.

Japan claims that compensation of the comfort women issue was resolved in 1965 when South Korea and Japan signed a treaty to establish diplomatic relations.

But South Korean officials said the wartime slaves were not covered in the compensation.

이대통령 방일 앞두고 한일관계 급랭
주한 일본대사관 앞에 한 시민단체가 설치한 위안부 평화비 문제로 이명박 대통령의 일본 방문을 앞두고 한일관계가 급랭하고 있다. 일본 외교부의 스기야마 국장은 일본대사관에서 가진 기자회견을 통해 한국정부에게 위안부 평화비 철거가 일본 정부 공식입장임을 재확인했다. 무토 일본 대사가 전날 외교부 박석환 1차관을 면담한 자리에서 분명하게 일본 정부의 입장을 표명했다고 스기야마 국장은 밝혔다. 무토 대사는 전날 박차관과의 면담을 통해 위안부 평화비 철거에 협조해줄 것을 요청한 것으로 알려졌다. 일본의 이같은 주장에 대해 외교부는 시민단체가 추진하는 일에 정부가 관여할 수 없다는 입장을 재확인 하며 일본정부에 위안부 문제에 적극 협조할 것을 촉구했다. 시민단체에 따르면 2차 대전기간 중 200,000명 가까운 한국 여성들이 종군위안부로 강제로 징용되었다. 이중 현재 생존자는 63명이다.
Emailhkang@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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