Moon, Abe confirm different views on comfort women deal

Moon, Abe still at odds on comfort women deal

By Jun Ji-hye

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remained poles apart over a 2015 comfort women deal during their first summit Friday.

Despite the different opinions, the two leaders agreed to work to move onto future-oriented relations. But it remains to be seen whether the strained diplomatic ties, which have arisen from historical disputes, can be restored sooner rather than later.

The 40-minute summit took place in Hamburg, Germany, on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Moon told his Japanese counterpart, “There is something that blocks the improvement of South Korea-Japan relations,” according to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun.

Moon said South Koreans cannot accept the deal “emotionally,” signaling his willingness to renegotiate the verbal agreement the former Park Geun-hye administration made with the Japanese government. Moon’s comment was a repetition of what he told Abe when the two held a telephone conversation following the former’s inauguration in May.

Abe also stuck to his earlier position, calling on Seoul to implement the agreement.

Under the deal, the two nations agreed to “finally and irreversibly” resolve a decades-old dispute over Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women before and during World War II. The Japanese government provided 1 billion yen ($9.97 million) to a Korean foundation dedicated to supporting the victims.

But controversy has been abounding as some surviving victims accused the government of failing to obtain Japan’s acknowledgment of its legal responsibility and rashly reaching the deal without consulting them.

Moon stressed that the comfort women issue should not be an obstacle to cooperation with Japan in handling other issues including North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The two heads of state also agreed to revive “shuttle diplomacy” that has been suspended, and make joint efforts to hold a trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the earliest possible date.