By Jun Ji-hye
The Japanese government flatly refuted President Park Geun-hye’s remark that the Dec. 28 verbal agreement on wartime sexual slavery did not include the removal of a comfort woman statue in front of its embassy in Seoul.
The disagreement once again confirmed the wide difference between the two countries on the issue, a major hurdle to implementing the deal.
Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said Wednesday that removing the statue, erected by a South Korean civic group, was part of the deal, saying that a tacit agreement existed between the two nations over the issue.
Hagiuda, a close aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made the remark during a news conference in Tokyo.
This was an apparent rebuttal to comments made by President Park, Tuesday, that the topic hadn’t been brought up when the two sides reached the deal.
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also refuted Hagiuda’s comment, calling it his “arbitrary interpretation.”
“There was no promise to remove the statue in the deal,” ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said.
He also said that issues related to the statue and the establishment of a foundation to help the victims were two separate matters, referring to Japan’s argument that the removal of the statue was a precondition for the country to fund 1 billion yen for the foundation.
“The government’s position is clear and consistent. What is important is the sincere implementation of the deal,” he said.
The statue symbolizes young Korean girls who were coerced and tricked into sexual servitude at frontline brothels operated by the Japanese Army before and during World War II.
The ministry made it clear that the monument was set up as a civilian initiative and the government has no right to interfere with it.
When Seoul and Tokyo reached the verbal agreement, the Japanese government agreed to fund 1 billion yen for a foundation to be established by the Korean government to support the victims.
The deal also called for an indirect apology by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and for Korea to end the ages-old dispute “once and for all” if Japan fully holds up its side.
Regarding the statue, a bone of contention between Seoul and Tokyo in recent years, the deal contained content that the Korean government should be aware that the Japanese government is concerned about the dignity of its diplomatic office and should make possible efforts through consultation with relevant groups so that the issue can be properly resolved.
The two sides have been interpreting this differently.
Japan has insisted that Korea remove the statue from the site, claiming that its removal is a precondition for Tokyo to implement the agreement.
But Korea has claimed that it never made any promise to remove the statue.
During the news conference, Hagiuda said, “The great significance of the deal was an agreement to establish new bilateral relations for a new era. As the leaders of both countries confirmed, the two sides should share responsibility for implementing the deal.”
Koreans accounted for most of the estimated 200,000 comfort women, which also included Chinese, Southeast Asians and some Europeans.
Currently, there are 46 surviving victims in Korea. Their average age is over 89.