Japan transfers 1 billion yen for comfort woman foundation

By Jun Ji-hye

The Japanese government transferred 1 billion yen ($9.7 million), Wednesday, to a foundation established by the Korean government to help Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation (1910-45), according to diplomatic sources.

The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation was established late last month in Seoul under a landmark deal reached between the two countries in December to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. In the agreement, Tokyo vowed to provide 1 billion yen from its national budget for the Korean victims.

The transfer came a week after the Japanese government endorsed a plan to contribute 1 billion yen to the foundation during a Cabinet meeting.

The foundation plans to offer 100 million won in cash to each of the 46 surviving victims and 20 million won to the families of 199 deceased victims.

The measure comes 25 years after the issue first came under the spotlight in 1991 when a former sex slave, the late Kim Hak-soon, first testified publicly.

During a bilateral meeting held on Aug. 24 in Tokyo, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida agreed to “faithfully” enforce the deal.

“The two ministers reaffirmed that it is important to recover the dignity of the victims and heal their scars by faithfully carrying out what was agreed upon in the December deal, and also shared the view that they should work closely together to that end,” the ministry said in a press release.

However, it remains to be seen whether the implementation of the deal can actually resolve the issue, as some surviving victims and civic groups have risen up in protest against what they call “the enforcement of the impractical deal.”

The survivors accuse the government of failing to obtain Japan’s acknowledgment of its legal responsibility and rashly reaching the deal without consulting them.

They said they do not want to receive the money from Japan unless the country acknowledges its legal responsibility and offers a sincere apology.

During a news conference held Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, one of the surviving victims, Kim Bok-dong, said, “I am angry as the government is moving to resolve the issue after receiving money from Japan. I call on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make a formal, sincere apology in front of the press and restore our honor.”

In addition, Japan is expected following the money transfer to step up its demand for the removal of the comfort woman statue across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, a symbol of its wartime sexual slavery.

Sources say Kishida asked Yun to try to settle the conflict over the statue “relevantly.”

The Korean government has made it clear that the statue was set up as a civilian initiative and the government has no right to interfere with it.