A Japanese government-funded private foundation was launched in South Korea on Thursday to compensate women who were sexually enslaved by Japan more than seven decades ago, a move aimed at ending one of the neighbors' long-running diplomatic feuds stemming from Tokyo's past colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
The formation of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is the result of the landmark deal reached on Dec. 28 to once and for all end the row over the sexually enslaved women, euphemistically called comfort women.
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forcefully conscripted to serve in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II while the Korean Peninsula was under the colonial occupation of Japan. Japan colonized the peninsula from 1910-45.
Japan expressed an apology for its colonial-era atrocities under the deal and committed to providing 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) to financially compensate the wartime victims and restore their dignity.
Only a small number of the estimated comfort women have come forward as victims of the sexual servitude, and there are only 40 confirmed South Korean victims alive today.
The foundation, registered as a nonprofit corporation with South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, will be headed by Kim Tae-hyun, an honorary social welfare professor at Sungshin Women's University.
Through its course of mission, the foundation will focus on two tasks: financially assisting the surviving victims and commemorating those who were forced to endure Japanese wartime sexual enslavement, according to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The foundation was launched in accordance with the South Korea-Japan agreement (in December) and in order to carry out responsibilities on the part of Japan," the official said.
The 1 billion-yen fund pledged by Tokyo, however, has yet to be transferred, reportedly due to some lingering differences between the two countries.
The foreign ministry's deputy spokesman Sun Nahm-kook said earlier in the week, "I think the promised fund will arrive immediately after the foundation is formally established." (Yonhap)
The formation of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is the result of the landmark deal reached on Dec. 28 to once and for all end the row over the sexually enslaved women, euphemistically called comfort women.
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forcefully conscripted to serve in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II while the Korean Peninsula was under the colonial occupation of Japan. Japan colonized the peninsula from 1910-45.
Japan expressed an apology for its colonial-era atrocities under the deal and committed to providing 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) to financially compensate the wartime victims and restore their dignity.
Only a small number of the estimated comfort women have come forward as victims of the sexual servitude, and there are only 40 confirmed South Korean victims alive today.
The foundation, registered as a nonprofit corporation with South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, will be headed by Kim Tae-hyun, an honorary social welfare professor at Sungshin Women's University.
Through its course of mission, the foundation will focus on two tasks: financially assisting the surviving victims and commemorating those who were forced to endure Japanese wartime sexual enslavement, according to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The foundation was launched in accordance with the South Korea-Japan agreement (in December) and in order to carry out responsibilities on the part of Japan," the official said.
The 1 billion-yen fund pledged by Tokyo, however, has yet to be transferred, reportedly due to some lingering differences between the two countries.
The foreign ministry's deputy spokesman Sun Nahm-kook said earlier in the week, "I think the promised fund will arrive immediately after the foundation is formally established." (Yonhap)
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