President Lee Myung-bak pressed Japan to take sincere steps to resolve long-running grievances over Tokyo's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, saying the act was a violation of "universal human rights and historic justice."
Lee made the remarks during a Liberation Day address marking Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, as tensions between the two countries have been running high after Lee's surprise visit last week to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, which Tokyo claims as its own.
Historians say that tens of thousands of Asian women, mostly Koreans, were forced to work at front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Victims of sexual slavery have been euphemistically called "comfort women."
"Japan is a close neighbor, a friend that shares basic values and an important partner that we should work with to open the future.
However, we have to point out that chain links tangled in the history of Korea-Japan relations are hampering the common march toward a better tomorrow in the Northeast Asian region, as well as bilateral ties," Lee said.
"Particularly, the issue involving the mobilization of 'comfort women' by the imperial Japanese military goes beyond relations between Korea and Japan," he said. "It was a breach of women's rights committed during wartime as well as a violation of universal human rights and historic justice. We urge Japan to take responsible measures in this regard." (Yonhap)