Korea raises 'comfort women' issue at UN session

NEW YORK (Yonhap) -- Korea on Monday appealed to the international community to pay more attention to the issue of Japan's "military sexual slavery" during World War II.

Addressing the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, Shin Dong-ik, Korea's deputy chief envoy to the U.N., described it as a "crime against humanity."

Around 200,000 Korean women were forced to provide sex services to Japanese troops, historians say. The victims are euphemistically called "comfort women."

The issue is seen as a symbol of Japan's wartime atrocities and brutal colonization of Korea from 1910 until 1945.

In his speech to the committee, which specializes in human rights and social affairs, Shin used the terms "military sexual slavery" and "the so-called comfort women" to refer to the victims.

He stressed that Japan's legal responsibility has not been settled yet, countering Japan's claim that the issue of reparations was cleared through a 1965 bilateral agreement on normalizing diplomatic ties.

Shin said it is important to prevent the recurrence of such acts through accurate education about historical incidents.

His speech was closely monitored as Seoul and Tokyo are locked in renewed disputes over their shared history and sovereignty of Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea.

Mentioning Japan's wartime wrongdoings, Shin used similar wording as used last year but struck a stronger tone.

Kim Sook, Seoul's ambassador to the U.N., said later, "It was meaningful in that it is difficult to find a fundamental solution to the problem unless the Japanese government takes a more active attitude" towards South Korea's demand.

Last month, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan used his keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly to denounce Japan's territorial claim and refusal to atone for its wartime past.