By Park Si-soo
An activist for former sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, or “comfort women,” urged the Korean government to get tough with Japan to get a formal apology and compensation for the wartime atrocity.
The activist also demanded President Lee Myung-bak raise the issue, at all costs, during the upcoming summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda scheduled for this weekend.
“This is a war crime that took place six decades ago. But the Korean government has failed to resolve it,” said Yoon Mee-hyang, president of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, in an interview with The Korea Times. “I wonder what the problem is ― a lack of capability or will.”
The phone interview was held on the occasion of her council’s 1,000th weekly rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, Wednesday.
“Needless to say, the biggest hurdle toward the solution of the problem is the Japanese government,” Yoon said. “It has remained idle despite our consistent efforts to change it.”
The second problem, she cited, was the Korean government.
“The government did virtually nothing for us before the Constitutional Court’s ruling,” she complained, referring to an August verdict from the country’s highest court. in its ruling, the court said the government must take concrete action to settle the matter, saying inaction was a violation of the Constitution.
Following the ruling, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade established a task force and pressed Japan to accept the proposal of holding bilateral meetings to discuss the matter, which Japan refused to do.
“We have seen a remarkable change in the government’s attitude toward the issue following the ruling. But what matters is how the government will proceed with it with Japan that has shown no signs of cooperation,” Yoon said. “Japan is silently waiting for the death of all comfort women. They will surely perish in years to come, probably in four or five years at the latest. We need to sort out the issue while they are alive. To that end, we need the government’s support.”
A total of 234 women were registered with the government as former comfort women ㅡ of them 171 have already passed away. Sixteen died this year alone, including two, Kim Yo-ji and Park Seo-woon, who died this month.
On Tuesday, one day ahead of the 1,000th rally, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae expressed regret for the sluggish progress in efforts to find a solution and pledged to work harder to get one as early as possible.