Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Tokyo ties sex slave talks to UNSC bid
By Yi Whan-woo
Shinzo Abe
By Yi Whan-woo
Japan is quickening efforts to resolve the issue of the sexual enslavement of women during World War II in an apparent bid to gain wider international support for its bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), analysts said Monday.
By pursuing deals with Korea, Taiwan and other Asian nations, Japan is trying to convince the world that it cares about international women’s rights and is capable of demonstrating moral leadership on the global stage.
“Japan has been gunning for a permanent seat on the UNSC for years and it is believed that the issues on comfort women may have been its biggest stumbling block,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University. “Given that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is an ultra-nationalist, it’s possible that he could not stand his country’s global image being tarnished and has decided to take relevant measures.”
Park noted that Japan failed its UNSC bids several times despite having the world’s third-largest economy and a global role in humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and peacekeeping efforts.
In what was seen as a protest, Abe then underscored the need to reform the UNSC during his U.N. speech in September.
Lee Myeon-woo, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, pointed out that a string of women leaders around the world have been critical of Japan’s history with sexual slavery.
The leaders include Radhika Kumaraswami, a former U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, and Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state and a contender for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
They have criticized Japan for being unrepentant on its wartime sex crimes.
Euphemistically called “comfort women,” an estimated 200,000 women were forced into sexual servitude at frontline brothels operated by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII.
The victims were mostly Koreans but they were also from China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor, as well as the Netherlands and Australia.
“It’s noteworthy that Clinton is the biggest frontrunner for the Democratic Party in the U.S. presidential election next year,” Lee said.
“It is speculated that Japan has taken account of her being the next U.S. president and has decided to take relevant measures in advance to maintain good relations with Clinton. After all, Japan’s main goal through the foreign ministerial talks was aimed at winning the support from the U.S., not from us.”