Putting differences aside, Koreas press Japan on wartime sex slaves

Representatives of civilian groups for women from the two Koreas pressed Japan on Saturday to resolve a long-running grievance regarding Korean women forced to serve as sexual slaves during World War II, giving a united voice on the issue despite tension over the North's nuclear and missile program.

The calls were made at a forum on Japan's wartime sexual slavery in China's northeastern city of Shenyang. It was the first time in seven years that North Korea's representatives attended the annual forum.

During the forum, Kim Myong-suk, vice chairman of the North's Korean Democratic Women's Union, criticized Japan for attempting to deny its wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women.

"Although some 70 years have passed since Japan's surrender in the war, Japan has continued to deny and whitewash its wartime atrocities," Kim told the forum.

"Beyond differences over ideology and opinions, women from North Korea, South Korea and around the world show united willingness to resolutely punish the moves by Japan," Kim added.

Historians say up to 200,000 women from Korea, China and some Asian nations were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese brothels during the war. Those sex slaves were euphemistically called "comfort women."

Kim Keum-ok, the head of the (South) Korean Women's Association United, also urged North Korea to forge closer cooperation against Japan.

"Let's collect our wisdom to resolve the issue of comfort women and jointly deal with the history of Japan's invasion," Kim said.

Although it was not the first time that the two Koreas gave a united voice on the comfort women issue, the Shenyang meeting held significance as it took place after the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea for launching two medium-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Friday.

South Korea has pressed Japan to address long-running grievances by the victims of wartime sex slavery by extending a formal apology and providing compensation to them. But Japan has refused to do so, saying the matter was settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.

Time is running out for those aging victims in South Korea, with only 55 remaining alive today. Their average age is 88.