Korea, Japan FMs to meet over sex slaves Monday

Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se

Tokyo expected to propose 100 million yen fund

By Kim Hyo-jin

Korea and Japan will hold foreign ministerial talks on Monday in Seoul to resolve the wartime sex slavery issue, the foreign ministry said Friday.

“Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida plans to visit Korea on Monday and discuss the wartime sex slavery issue and other matters with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se,” foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said during a briefing.

He added that ahead of the meeting, the two sides will hold their 12th round of working-level talks on the issue on Sunday.

The announcement came hours after the Nikkei Asian Review said that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to create a 100 million yen ($831,877) fund to help the victims forced to serve as prostitutes for wartime Imperial Japanese forces during World War II.

Abe is also considering making an apology for the wartime sexual enslavement, it reported.

Kishida is expected to table the fund proposal during the meeting with Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

“I’m ready to rack my brains, do my utmost and sweat,” Kishida told reporters during the press conference. “We have been trying to realize the agreement ... to accelerate talks and seek an early settlement. This is part of this effort.”

On Thursday, Abe unexpectedly instructed his foreign minister to visit Korea next week to attempt to resolve the comfort women issue.

Regarding the new fund, one proposal would have 10 years’ worth of aid paid out at once to create the fund that will amount to over 100 million yen.

Japan has provided medical aid to the victims with a yearly budget of 15 million yen as a follow-up measure since the 2007 dissolution of the Asian Women’s Fund.

Regarding the possible apology, Abe may send letters to the victims, referring to “responsibility” and “apology,” the report said.

There have been signs of a thaw between the two countries after their relations were strained by Abe’s attempts to whitewash Japan’s unsavory past.

President Park Geun-hye held her first summit with the Japanese premier last month and agreed to speed up talks to resolve the issue by the end of this year on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the two nations’ diplomatic relations.

In addition, last week’s acquittal of a Japanese journalist who had been prosecuted for allegedly defaming Park in a column and the Korean Constitutional Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 1965 Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty helped Abe take steps to resolve the issue more actively.

Korea has long demanded that Japan make an official apology and offer reparations with recognition of its responsibility for the wartime atrocity, while Japan has claimed that the issue has been completely resolved under the bilateral treaty in June 1965 when the two countries restored diplomatic relations.

Analysts expect the two sides to work on the final resolution during the foreign ministers’ meeting.

“Japan is ready to wrap up the deal by the end of this year. The two ministers are expected to finalize the wordings of the apology to be made by Abe,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University, adding that the negotiations are in their final stages following 11 rounds of working-level talks since March 2014.

Lee Won-deog, a professor of international studies at Kookmin University, echoed Park’s view, saying, “A resolution package will be provided by Japan to speed up the negotiations.”

It may include the official form of Abe’s apology, financial assistance by the Japanese government, and a letter of apology by Japan’s foreign minister or its ambassador to Korea, he said.

Regarding the possible government-backed fund, Lee viewed it as an improved step because it shows Japan’s willingness to take more responsibility on the sex slavery issue, compared with the 1995-2007 Asian Women’s Fund that was based on private donations.

However, the naming of the fund could be a bone of contention.

“Both governments need to work on the name of the fund carefully as it directly reflects the meaning of this financial assistance; they are expected to have a hard time finding satisfactory terminology between compensation and atonement,” he said.