'Comfort woman' statue leaves Korean diplomacy with daunting challenges

Flowers are laid by a statue of a girl symbolizing victims of Japan’s sex slavery before and during World War II outside the Japanese Consulate in Busan, Sunday. The statue was set up there by activists, Dec. 30. Japan has vowed to take retaliatory measures against the installment, claiming it was a violation of a deal reached between the two governments in December 2015. / Yonhap

China, Japan raise tensions over missile defense, sex slavery

By Yi Whan-woo

Korea faces a deepening diplomatic crisis amid the latest retaliatory measures taken by both Japan and China against Seoul during a vacuum in the country’s leadership.

The measures come in response to Seoul’s “failure” to prevent civic groups from establishing a new “comfort woman” statue outside the Japanese Consulate in Busan, and a planned deployment of an advanced U.S. missile shield here despite Beijing’s protests.

Analysts said Sunday that Seoul’s diplomatic crisis is expected to become more complicated when Donald Trump is inaugurated as the new U.S. president, Jan. 20. Trump has repeatedly asked Seoul to pay more to maintain the American troops in Korea, otherwise he will pull them out.

Claiming that the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye led to a diplomatic vacuum, the experts said that the next government will face a tough job in straightening out relations with the U.S., China and Japan.

They cited uncertainty in the timetable for this year’s presidential election, which will depend on the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the impeachment.

The experts also referred to speculation that Korea and Japan reached a “final and irrevocable” agreement over the comfort women as part of efforts to mend ties and bolster a trilateral alliance with the U.S.

However, uncertainties still remain over such an alliance under the government of Trump, who has vowed to upend security and the global order embraced by his predecessors since World War II.

Korea has also been forced to choose between maintaining trade with China and deploying a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in line with the Seoul-Washington security alliance.

“The country is like a headless robot, moving toward a cliff,” said Kim Heung-kyu, a professor at Ajou University.

He cited that Korea has not come up with counter-measures in response to retaliatory moves made by Japan and China.

Japan has recalled its ambassador to Seoul, Yasumasa Nagamine, and its consul general in Busan, Yasuhiro Morimoto, in protest of the establishment of a statue of a girl symbolizing Tokyo’s wartime sex slavery in Busan, Dec. 30.

Tokyo also suspended talks with Seoul over a foreign currency swap arrangement.

In an NHK interview aired Sunday, Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe said Korea must show sincerity in implementing the agreement reached over comfort women on Dec. 28, 2015.

The controversial deal requires the two nations to refrain from blaming each other over Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women before and during World War II.

“Korea must carry out the agreement even if there is a change in its government. It’s a matter of credibility for the country,” Abe said. “Going against it is not a constructive idea.”

According to diplomatic sources, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Abe before Japan retaliated against Korea, Friday, and asked him to refrain from making the situation worse.

Regarding THAAD, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi admitted last week that Beijing has been taking retaliatory measures against Korea. They include a ban on Korean airliners from running chartered flights between the two countries on the occasion of the Chinese New Year holiday this month.

“Normalizing state affairs will be important because the longer the leadership vacuum, the bigger the damage to national interests,” said Lee Won-deok, a professor of international relations at Kookmin University.

He also asked the government to maintain its policies concerning THAAD and the “comfort women” agreement, and that any possible changes under a new government should be made after making sufficient preparation.