Comfort women were Japan's shocking human rights violations: Lippert

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Oh Young-jin, Rachel Lee

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may finally feel regret over his repeated attempts to whitewash his country’s wartime crimes such as sexual slavery of women, many of whom were Korean girls conscripted and forced to serve imperial soldiers.

In Hiroshima and later in Hawaii, Abe has used outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama as a kind of prop to legitimize post-war Japan’s shirking of responsibility for its World War II atrocities.

The Japanese leader’s charade was dismissed by Mark Lippert, Obama’s protege and the U.S. ambassador to Korea for more than two years. Lippert confirmed the comfort women as a “shocking” example of “human rights violations” that Obama described during his April 2014 visit to Seoul.

“It underscores the way that the United States feels about the issue,” Lippert said during an interview with The Korea Times and the Hankook Ilbo at his residence Tuesday, when asked whether he still backed Obama’s declaration. “We view this historical issue as very important.”

He denied allegations that the Dec. 28, 2015, agreement between Seoul and Tokyo to settle the sex slave issue was a result of U.S. pressure, saying, “We don’t mediate and we don’t pressure for an outcome.” Now, the agreement is unraveling — with Abe claiming Korea is unworthy of the 10 billion won it received as part of the deal, while Seoul is just short of throwing the money back in Abe’s face.

Lippert described the historical issue as “very difficult, very tough, very complex,” promoting discussions between the two with the goal of achieving peace and reconciliation. Fitting his description is the latest tit-for-tat that increasingly makes Korea-Japan ties look like the intractable Israel-Palestine riddle.

Regarding the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) U.S. missile inceptor, here, Lippert said that it was Korea’s “sovereign” decision.

“Korea took the decision in consultation with its ally the United States,” he said, adding that the goal was to protect the Korean population and territory from North Korean missile threats.

He also pointed out that the U.S. had indeed asked China to end punitive measures on Korean companies, and instead persuade its friend, North Korea, to roll back its illegal, very dangerous missile program, which he called the “root” of the current standoff on the Korean Peninsula.

Lippert refuted speculation that the THAAD deployment would end up luring Korea to join the U.S.-envisioned missile defense system, a plan to provide a shield across the globe through space to protect the U.S. proper from missile attacks.

“Absolutely not, it is only designed for the Korean Peninsula,” he said in reply to the question. “If we wanted to build more of a national missile defense, we would build national defenses in Japan and Guam,” he said.

Lippert noted that there is a huge demand for THAAD batteries so “we put them where the threat is the greatest...because we only have a very few of them and every global combat commander will tell you — ‘I need missile defense and I need THAAD batteries.’”

Regarding the candlelit protests calling for the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, he called them nothing unusual for a democracy, differing from some foreign observers who believed it was a big waste of candlelight and reflected the failure of the political establishment.

“Those are an important part of democracy,” he said, comparing them with protests in Washington — “peaceful demonstrations within the contours of, within great traditions of civic demonstrations.”

He referred to a report about his being seen near the protests. “I went out for a walk with my dog ... I live incredibly close to Gwanghwamun,” he said. “I was there early before the formal kickoff.”

Asked whether he was surprised by a visit from President Park while he was in the hospital after a knife attack, he said, “I didn’t know what to expect,” but that it was an “incredibly nice gesture,” thanking the Korean people for their outpouring of support.

He also had an answer to a question that he had long had — did his visits help his friends who suffered from battlefield trauma in Afghanistan or Iraq? “It boosts your spirit. It makes you recover faster.”

The interview lasted about an hour at Habib House, the residence of the U.S. ambassador in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. He appeared a bit late because his farewell lunch with acting president Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn lasted longer than expected. When told he looked tired, he explained he had been packing for his family’s return to the U.S., Friday, after wrapping up his tour of duty that started in October 2014. He was a young ambassador at age 41 when he took the job thanks to his close relationship with President Barack Obama.

He said he had not decided what to do next but expressed hope to stay involved in Korean affairs. Lippert was quite popular with Koreans for his positive and informal attitude. For a while, it was a novel sight for him to walk to his embassy office, 10 minutes from his residence, through Gwanghwamun Square.