Korea passive on sex slavery issue

Japan’s attempt to distort history remains unchecked

By Yi Whan-woo

The Korean government remains low-key in addressing Japan’s attempts to distort the history of “comfort women,” drawing criticisms from scholars as well as surviving victims.

At the United Nations, the Japanese government is repeatedly denying its forcible mobilization of Korean women as sex slaves before and during World War II ― a possible breach of the Dec. 28 agreement reached between Korea and Japan to address the sex slavery issue.

However, the Park Geun-hye administration is taking little action to counter Japan’s move, analysts said.

The two Asian neighbors promised to refrain from blaming each other at the U.N. in their “final and irrevocable” accord to end the decades-long dispute over the wartime sex slavery.

“Our government apparently is concerned about breaking the agreement and has become passive in speaking out when it comes to issues over Japan’s wartime sex slavery,” said Kwak Jin-o, a senior researcher at Northeast Asia History Foundation. “By contrast, Tokyo is continuing to distort history involving its state-perpetrated sex crimes.”

Kwak noted that Seoul’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has backed away from funding women’s rights activists in a campaign to win UNESCO world documentary heritage status for comfort women.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also has underscored that the UNESCO campaign is only being made on a civic level.

In contrast, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet claimed it found no documentary evidence on the “forceful taking away” of victims of sex slavery in a report filed with the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination for a period review scheduled from Feb. 15.

Park Won-gon, an international relations professor, agreed with Kwak.

“Tokyo’s argument is seen as denial of Korea’s long-held demand that the victims were lured, abducted and coerced into sexual servitude at front-line brothels operated by the Japanese military,” he said. “In that regard, Japan apparently ignored Korea through its U.N. report and it can be interpreted as a breach of the December agreement.”

A senior researcher at the Sejong Institute said the government should be “more flexible” in carrying out the agreement concerning former sex slaves.

“It’s true that Korea and Japan agreed to not denounce each other Tokyo’s wartime atrocities, but it doesn’t mean we no longer have a right to correctly inform and share our historical wounds with the international community,” the researcher said on condition of anonymity.

“We should be careful in addressing the sex slavery-issues for political and diplomatically reasons, not for educational and historical reasons.”

A foreign ministry official refused to comment, Monday, whether Japan’s U.N. report violated the December agreement, but denounced Tokyo for allegedly attempting to water down the forceful nature of its wartime crimes.

Meanwhile, Kwak speculated that the United States may have appreciated Japan more over Korea concerning the comfort women deal.

“Despite the security alliance and economic cooperation, Tokyo’s unrepentant views on history had been a hurdle in bolstering U.S.-Japan ties to the maximum level,” he said.

“With the December deal, the hurdle is gone and Tokyo knows it. That’s probably why it is being relentless in addressing issues over sex slavery from its point of view on the international stage.”