Japan will face further isolation from the international community if it keeps ignoring the grievous issue of its wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, Seoul's foreign minister said Friday.
Yun Byung-se made the remarks as he came back from Geneva where he denounced Japan's repeated attempts under the Shinzo Abe government to deny its history of forcing Korean and other Asian women to serve as sex slaves for imperial Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Japan's nationalist move is "an affront to humanity," Yun said in his keynote speech at the United Nations' Human Rights Council on Wednesday, accusing Japan of having a double standard for promoting a modern-day pro-woman campaign on the international stage.
"The Japanese government and its political leaders will further be isolated and keep aching," Yun said at Incheon International Airport upon arrival.
"We (the South Korean government) view Japanese soldiers' comfort women issue to be not just a bilateral South Korea-Japan issue but to be a universal human rights issue of the international community," Yun said, using the euphemistic term for the sex slave victims.
"The recent U.N. address was a good opportunity to instill such points to all the participants of the U.N. Human Rights Council," he also noted.
The minister also repeated his call for an early resolution of the issue, saying that "it is very important for Japan to take swift, sincere measures to the satisfaction of old-aged comfort women victims and the international community."
Seoul has repeatedly called on Japan to apologize and provide compensation for the wartime sexual atrocities. Japan has, however, maintained that all the compensation issues, arising from Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45, were settled in the two countries' bilateral treaty in 1965 in which they normalized diplomatic ties and Japan provided a package of compensation funds.
Tens of thousands of women, mainly from Korea as well as China and the Netherlands, were enslaved into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during WWII, with the wartime crime issue being revealed only in recent decades thanks to some former victims who came forth to testify about their long-hidden experiences.
Yun Byung-se made the remarks as he came back from Geneva where he denounced Japan's repeated attempts under the Shinzo Abe government to deny its history of forcing Korean and other Asian women to serve as sex slaves for imperial Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Japan's nationalist move is "an affront to humanity," Yun said in his keynote speech at the United Nations' Human Rights Council on Wednesday, accusing Japan of having a double standard for promoting a modern-day pro-woman campaign on the international stage.
"The Japanese government and its political leaders will further be isolated and keep aching," Yun said at Incheon International Airport upon arrival.
"We (the South Korean government) view Japanese soldiers' comfort women issue to be not just a bilateral South Korea-Japan issue but to be a universal human rights issue of the international community," Yun said, using the euphemistic term for the sex slave victims.
"The recent U.N. address was a good opportunity to instill such points to all the participants of the U.N. Human Rights Council," he also noted.
The minister also repeated his call for an early resolution of the issue, saying that "it is very important for Japan to take swift, sincere measures to the satisfaction of old-aged comfort women victims and the international community."
Seoul has repeatedly called on Japan to apologize and provide compensation for the wartime sexual atrocities. Japan has, however, maintained that all the compensation issues, arising from Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45, were settled in the two countries' bilateral treaty in 1965 in which they normalized diplomatic ties and Japan provided a package of compensation funds.
Tens of thousands of women, mainly from Korea as well as China and the Netherlands, were enslaved into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during WWII, with the wartime crime issue being revealed only in recent decades thanks to some former victims who came forth to testify about their long-hidden experiences.
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