 President Lee Myung-bak, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda before holding a summit at the Kyoto State Guest House in Kyoto, Japan, Sunday. Lee urged Noda to take prompt action to address the long-ignored issue of “comfort women,” but Noda replied that Japan’s legal position over the thorny matter remains unchanged. / Yonhap |
Tokyo renews territorial claims over Dokdo
By Lee Tae-hoon
President Lee Myung-bak called on Japan to promptly act on the long-ignored issue of “comfort women,” its wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, Sunday, warning that it could determine the future of bilateral ties.
"In order for the two countries to become true partners for peace and stability in the region, Japan should have the genuine courage to resolve as a priority the military comfort women issue, which remains a stumbling block between the two nations," Lee said.
He made the remarks in a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Kyoto, Japan, amid growing tensions over the thorny issue.
Noda, however, categorically rejected Lee’s call; and later complained to the Japanese press about Korea’s plan to build a pier on Korea’s eastern most islets of Dokdo to accommodate larger vessels.
He said that Japan's position remains unchanged that its responsibility to compensate the comfort women was completely resolved in 1965 when Seoul and Tokyo signed the Korea-Japan Basic Treaty to normalize diplomatic relations.
“I’m sure you understand our government’s legal stance over the issue,” the Japanese leader told Lee. “We will continue to exercise wisdom from a humanitarian perspective."
He demanded Seoul remove the “Peace Monument,” a life-size statue, placed in front of the Japanese Embassy last week to commemorate the endeavors of the former sex slaves seeking truth and compensation over Tokyo’s atrocities during World War II.
“To my understanding, our working level officials have sought the removal of the statue,” he said. “I also request President Lee to uninstall it.”
President Lee flatly rejected the demand, saying that the monument would not have been set up if Tokyo had come up with any sincere measure to resolve the problem.
He warned that Japan would see "second and third" statues being installed unless Tokyo takes necessary measures to tackle the issue.
According to presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha, Lee spent nearly 90 percent of his time addressing the comfort women issue over the one-hour talks with Noda, putting aside economic matters, including a possible free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Park said Lee told Noda that the comfort women issue is becoming increasingly urgent as only 63 women who have publicly identified themselves as former sex slaves are still alive and their average age is 86.
This year alone, 16 government-registered former comfort women passed away.
He added that Lee raised the issue in a strong manner because he sees it as a litmus test in deciding whether Korea can expand ties with Japan including signing an FTA and cooperating in bilateral security.
Nevertheless, Noda told the Japanese press shortly after the summit that Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba made a protest in a meeting with Chun Young-woo, the top foreign affairs and security advisor to Lee on Saturday.
“Gemba told him that Takeshima (Dokdo) is our territory and expressed regrets over construction activities on the island,” Nada said.
In this regard, Seoul underlined that it does not see a need to respond to Japan’s groundless claims, saying Dokdo is not a disputed territory as it has long been part of Korea’s history.
Political observers say Lee touched on the comfort women issue for the first time since he took office in 2008 to shore up his plunging popularity.
Cheong Wa Dae has been under attack over suspicions that it was involved in an attack that paralyzed the website of the country’s election watchdog on Oct. 26 to prevent lawyer-turned-civic activist Park Won-soon from being elected as Seoul mayor.
They also noted that Noda intentionally addressed the Dokdo issue, to score political brownie points by provoking nationalism.
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