Japan endorses contribution plan to comfort women foundation

The Japanese government on Wednesday approved a plan to contribute 1 billion yen ($9.97 million) to help victims who were used as sexual slaves by Japanese troops during World War II, a local media report said.

According to Kyodo News, the Japanese government held a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day and endorsed the contribution plan that was pledged late last year. The money will go to a foundation launched in South Korea for the victims, euphemistically called comfort women.

The decision is expected to be delivered to South Korea at a bilateral meeting to be held in Tokyo in the afternoon between Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se.

The contribution was promised at a landmark deal reached on Dec. 28 between South Korea and Japan, under which Tokyo expressed an apology for its colonial-era atrocities and agreed to launch a foundation dedicated to supporting the surviving victims.

Japan, however, has been avoiding calling the money that it promised to contribute to the foundation as "reparation" causing doubt here about the sincerity of its apology.

The foundation was launched in July with its main focus being placed on healing the scars and recovering dignity of the victims. How the promised money should be utilized and what role the Japanese government would play have been the center of attention ever since.

Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II. Forty South Korean victims, mostly in their late 80s, are currently known to be alive. (Yonhap)