Government “Respect for the trial … Japan-Korea Comfort Agreement, Official Agreement” on ‘Japan, Compensation for Comfort Women’

Check-in 2021.01.08 17:17 | Revision 2021.01.08 17:22

“Continue efforts for future-oriented cooperation between Korea and Japan”
Dissolution of the ‘Foundation for Reconciliation and Healing’ after the establishment of the Munmun government
Interpretation of the Korea-Japan comfort alliance as ‘de facto destruction’
Ministry of Foreign Relations “Let us remember that it is an official agreement between the two governments”

On the 8th, the government said that it “respects the sentence” of the court ruling that recognized the Japanese government’s responsibility to compensate the victims of comfort women. Regarding the relations between Korea and Japan, he said, “I will try to maintain constructive and future-oriented cooperation.”

In a comment on behalf of a spokesperson this afternoon, the Foreign Ministry announced this position, saying: “We will do everything possible to restore the honor and dignity of the victims of comfort women.”

In response to the ruling, the Japanese government said it was “very sorry.” The Foreign Ministry said: “We will do our best to continue the constructive and future-oriented cooperation between Korea and Japan, carefully examining the impact of the trial on diplomatic relations.”

In addition, the Foreign Ministry said that “the government recalls that the agreement between the two governments of December 2015 is an official agreement between the two governments.”

The ‘official government agreement’ referred to by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to the ‘Korea-Japan Comfort Women Agreement’ signed by the Park Geun-hye administration on 12, 2015. In this agreement, the then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, “We express heartfelt apologies and reflections” to the victims of comfort women, and the Japanese government established a foundation (Reconciliation and Healing Foundation) with the Japanese government budget to support the victims. I decided to do it. On the premise of this, he said: “We confirm that the problem (of comfort women) will be resolved in a definitive and irreversible way.” The Korean government also said, “We confirm that this problem will be resolved permanently and irreversibly.”

Before the April 2017 presidential election, President Moon Jae-in said, “It is an unacceptable and invalid agreement” as a candidate for the Democratic Party presidential election. Following the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration, the Reconciliation Healing Foundation was disbanded in November 2018 after a review that there was an issue in the agreement signing process. This was accepted as a “de facto cancellation” of the accommodation agreement between Korea and Japan, but the government did not officially cancel the agreement.

A Japanese government spokesman said: “I will never be able to accept,” said Kato Katsunobu, the Japanese interior minister, and said he was “very sorry” for the “government of comfort women.” He said the ruling violated the principle of “exemption from sovereignty” of international law. “As a state, we strongly demand that Korea take appropriate steps to correct violations of international law.” He said: “The issue of comfort women in the Japanese military was confirmed between the two governments that worked for the ‘final and irreversible solution’ in the agreement of the foreign ministers of Korea and Japan in 2015.”