'Comfort women' file petition to nullify Korea-Japan accord

By Kim Da-hee

A group of former “comfort women” has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, arguing that an agreement between Korea and Japan in December infringed on their basic rights, thus unconstitutional.

The Minbyun-Lawyers for a Democratic Society represents the 41-member plaintiff, including 29 former comfort women and family members of eight deceased victims.

“The Korean government neglected its constitutional duty by making it hard for the victims of wartime sexual slavery to demand compensation from Japan through the Seoul-Tokyo accord,” the organization said in a statement. “This tramples on the victims’ property rights, dignity and value as humans and rights to receive diplomatic protection from the government.”

It said the accord possibly violated the constitution because the agreement violated the victims’ procedural right of participation and right to know during the process of negotiating the accord.

The controversial agreement was signed on Dec. 28 to “finally and irrevocably” settle the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II, under which Japan admitted to its wartime atrocities against Korean women and offered 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) reparations to the victims

But shortly after the agreement, Japan did a back-flip, denying in its most recent report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee that the country had coerced wartime sex slaves.