The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Man who opened plane door says he wanted to get off quickly: police

  • 3

    US urged to respect Korea's position amid US-China chip war

  • 5

    Annual K pop-concert comes to Busan, featuring BTOB, ITZY, Nmixx and more

  • 7

    Korean literature in translation enjoys growing universal appeal

  • 9

    Can Seoul succeed in transforming Yeouido into a global financial hub?

  • 11

    Man allegedly murders girlfriend shortly after release from police custody in dating violence probe

  • 13

    Korea plays 10-man Honduras to draw at U-20 World Cup, knockout fate up in air

  • 15

    Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases

  • 17

    Unification ministry's NK report disclaimer creates controversy

  • 19

    About 3,000 Korean tourists stranded in Guam due to Typhoon Mawar aftermath

  • 2

    INTERVIEW'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time'

  • 4

    76th Cannes Film Festival

  • 6

    Traditional markets catch on with foreign tourists, young consumers

  • 8

    INTERVIEWHow 'bojagi' helped adoptee reconnect with Korean roots

  • 10

    Gen MZ shifts to thrifty mindset amid high cost of living

  • 12

    INTERVIEWAs Georgia marks Independence Day, new ambassador vows to bolster ties

  • 14

    INTERVIEWFormer UK gang member shares hard-learned lessons to prevent youth violence

  • 16

    Suspect held after four killed in Japan gun and knife attack

  • 18

    Nuri's main payload NEXTSAT-2 enters orbit, makes communication with Earth

  • 20

    Advancing ESG drive meets stakeholder demands, enhances access to capital: experts

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Sun, May 28, 2023 | 15:08
-------------------------
Japan again denies coercion of sex slaves
日, 아베의 '증거없다' 논리로 군위안부 강제연행 '진실가리기'
Posted : 2016-01-31 17:19
Updated : 2016-02-01 16:37
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Seoul urges Tokyo to honor Dec. 28 deal

By Kim Hyo-jin


The government has warned Japan not to try to scuttle the "comfort women" deal, criticizing Tokyo for its recent denial regarding the coercion of Korean women into sexual slavery before and during World War II.

The warning came Sunday after Tokyo formally denied the coercion of the wartime sex slaves in its most recent report to a United Nations committee, right after Japan signed the deal with Korea on Dec. 28.

The denial is a the violation of the agreement to solve the longtime issue between the two countries.

Civic activists and scholars also hit out at the Japanese government for its renewed denial, urging Korea to take strong action against the move, which is apparently aimed at watering down Tokyo's wartime crimes against humanity on the international stage.

"The coercion in mobilizing women as sex slaves by the Japanese military is an undeniable historical fact," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, referring to a 1996 report on wartime "comfort women" by a U.N. special rapporteur that stated the forced nature.

In the recent deal, Tokyo acknowledged its military involvement, provided an apology and pledged to offer 1 billion yen ($8.29 million) in reparations for the surviving victims. Japan said that the deal resolved the dispute in a "final and irreversible" manner.

"Irreversible applies to both sides and means that Japan also should not make comments that reverse the accord," the statement said. "We'd like to point out that the Japanese government should implement the accord in an unwavering manner and that is the basic spirit of our deal."

The ministry said it is now seeking countermeasures.

The denial prompted speculation that Tokyo is renewing its attempt to deny the forceful nature of the wartime sexual slavery despite the deal that "settled" the dispute over the issue.

"Seoul should officially rebuke this argument and discuss the issue from square one as Japan has broken the deal," said Yoon Mi-hyang, head of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a nongovernmental organization for the victims.

Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University, said Japan's move can be seen as a breach of the deal. "Military involvement includes the act of coercion. Denying the forced nature naturally breaches the accord," he said.

"The Korean government should respond to the undermining of the agreement sternly," Kim Yeol-su, an international politics professor at Sungshin Women's University. "It reflects that Japan did not engage in the deal sincerely in the first place."

Tokyo again claimed that there is no evidence to prove the victims were coerced into sexual servitude for soldiers in a report delivered to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in late December, according to the Website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It came as a response to the committee's request for Japan to present the background of its recent comments that denied the forcible mobilization of sexual slavery victims.

"The government of Japan has conducted a full-scale fact-finding study on the comfort women issue since the early 1990s when the issue started to be taken up as a political issue between Japan and the Republic of Korea," the report said. "Forceful taking away of comfort women by the military and government authorities could not be confirmed in any of the documents."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered the same view on Jan. 18, drawing criticism from the Korean government and activists supporting the surviving victims.

Abe said in a parliamentary committee meeting that there was no evidence to prove women were forcibly mobilized as sex slaves by Japan's military during the war, adding the stance has not been changed since it was adopted by a Cabinet meeting in 2007.

The Korean government denounced Abe for his remarks, saying that he should not undermine the implementation of the agreement.

Lee Myeon-woo, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, said Japan will continue to go abrogate the accord with Korea on the international stage.

"Although it refrained from such a position while it tried to strike a deal with Korea, it will renew its efforts to appeal its position in the international community whenever it has to protect its national image," he said.



日, 아베의 '증거없다' 논리로 군위안부 강제연행 '진실가리기'

일본 정부가 최근 유엔 기구의 질의에 대한 답변을 통해 '군위안부 강제연행의 증거가 발견되지 않았다'고 주장한 것은 아베 신조(安倍晋三) 총리 주도의 '진실 가리기'로 규정할 수 있다.

아베 총리는 지난 18일 국회에서 질의에 답하면서 '이제까지 정부가 발견한 자료 중에서 군과 관헌에 의한 이른바 '강제연행'을 직접 보여주는 기술은 발견되지 않았다는 것을 (아베 본인의 1차 집권기인) 2007년 각의(국무회의) 결정했다'며 '그 입장에는 어떠한 변화도 없다'고 말했다.

일본 정부가 유엔 여성차별철폐위원회에 답변한 내용은 아베 총리의 이 발언을 거의 그대로 옮긴 셈이다. 아베는 자신의 첫 집권기에 정부 공식 입장으로 정한 것을 2012년 12월 재집권 후 누차 언급한데 이어 작년말 한일간 군위안부 합의 도출 후 국내외적으로 아예 '대못박기'를 시도하는 양상이다. 

아베 총리의 발언은 엄밀히 말해 '군위안부 강제연행이 없었다'는 것이 아니라 '일본 군인과 정부 당국자가 강제연행한 증거는 발견되지 않았다'는 것이다. 하지만 보통 사람이 곰곰이 따져보지 않고 들으면 '강제연행이 없었다'는 것으로 간주되기 십상이라는 점에서 문제는 심각하다.

'군위안부 강제연행'은 멀리 갈 것도 없이 일본 역사학계에 의해 엄연한 사실로 받아들여지고 있다.

일본의 역사학연구회는 2014년 10월 발표한 성명에서 '일본군의 관여 하에 강제연행된 '위안부'가 존재한 것은 분명하다'며 인도네시아 스마랑과 중국 산시(山西)성 등의 사례에서 밝혀졌으며, 한반도에서도 피해자의 증언이 다수 존재한다고 지적했다.

또 관련 문서 기술이 발견되지 않았다는 주장도 '손바닥으로 하늘 가리기'라는 비판을 면키 어렵다.

'한국에서 이뤄진 일본군과 관에 의한 위안부 강제연행'이 입증됐느냐에 대해서는 논란이 있는 것이 사실이다. 위안부 연구의 선구자인 요시아키(吉見義明) 일본 주오(中央)대 교수는 지난 26일 강연에서 '군과 관헌에 의한 협박을 동반한 조직적 연행이 한반도에서 있었음을 뒷받침할 (문서상의) 증거는 현재 나오지 않았다'면서도 '그렇다고 없었던 것으로 증명된 것도 아닌 만큼 '군과 관헌에 의해 폭력적으로 끌려갔다'고 말하는 피해자들 주장을 실증하는 것이 필요하다'고 말했다.

하지만 한반도 밖에서의 군위안부 강제연행은 명백히 입증된 사실이라는게 일본 학계의 평가다.

2013년 10월 6일 일본 교도통신 보도에 의하면, 도쿄의 국립공문서관은 일본군이 2차대전 중 인도네시아 내 포로수용소에서 네덜란드 여성 수십명을 강제 연행해 위안부로 삼았음을 보여주는 공문서를 보유하고 있다.

'BC급 바타비아 재판 제106호 사건'이라는 제목의 530쪽 짜리 문서 중 12년형을 받은 전 육군 중장의 판결문에는 1944년 일본군 장교의 명령으로, 인도네시아 자바섬 스마랑주(州)에 수용돼 있던 네덜란드인 여성을 주내 4개 위안소로 연행한 뒤 위협해서 매춘을 시켰다는 내용이 적시돼 있다.

또 동남아 여성을 대거 강제연행해 군위안부로 삼은 뒤 군의 자금을 활용해 현지인들의 입막음을 시도했다는 전 일본군 병사의 증언이 담긴 문서가 재작년 하야시 히로후미(林博史) 간토가쿠인(關東學院)대 교수 등에 의해 발견됐다.

그 뿐 아니라 패전 직후 일본 당국에 의해 대규모 문서 소각이 이뤄졌다는 점도 간과할 수 없다는 지적이 나온다. '여성 강제연행'과 같은 범죄 행위를 공문서에 적어 놓을리도, 적어 놓았다고 해도 그것을 소각하지 않았을리 없다는 것이다. (연합뉴스)
Emailhyojinkim@ktimes.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1US urged to respect Korea's position amid US-China chip war US urged to respect Korea's position amid US-China chip war
2Chinese carmakers challenge Hyundai Motor, Kia in global marketsChinese carmakers challenge Hyundai Motor, Kia in global markets
3Calls grow for regulations on AI technology on webcomicsCalls grow for regulations on AI technology on webcomics
4CJ, Shinsegae study temple food to expand vegan lineup CJ, Shinsegae study temple food to expand vegan lineup
5Africa Day celebrated in Korea with book talkAfrica Day celebrated in Korea with book talk
6[INTERVIEW] Korean chef aims to change Hong Kong's dining sceneINTERVIEWKorean chef aims to change Hong Kong's dining scene
7Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 4 - Gaeseong's passive defiance Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 4 - Gaeseong's passive defiance
8ChatGPT: boon or bane for banking industry? ChatGPT: boon or bane for banking industry?
9POSCO named sustainability champion for 2nd consecutive year POSCO named sustainability champion for 2nd consecutive year
105th Korean-German Energy Day 5th Korean-German Energy Day
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases Stray Kids, NCT's Taeyong, ATEEZ gear up for June releases
2[INTERVIEW] 'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time' INTERVIEW'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time'
3Competing to get married? 'Physical:100' writer to roll out marriage survival show Competing to get married? 'Physical:100' writer to roll out marriage survival show
4Ma Dong-seok goes all out to create iconic action hero in 'The Outlaws' threequel Ma Dong-seok goes all out to create iconic action hero in 'The Outlaws' threequel
5All-female cast 'Siren: Survive the Island' to challenge prevailing biases All-female cast 'Siren: Survive the Island' to challenge prevailing biases
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group