Japan Protests S. Korea’s Decision over Comfort Women Foundation

November 22, 2018

Tokyo--The Japanese government on Wednesday protested to South Korea over its announcement the same day of a decision to dissolve a foundation to support former Korean "comfort women," which was set up based on a 2015 landmark bilateral accord.

Tokyo also called on the South Korean side to steadily implement the agreement.

Japan plans to wait and see moves by South Korea, without taking specific action against the country, as it hopes to maintain the cooperation between them and among the two nations plus the United States in dealing with issues related to North Korea, informed sources said.

The Japanese government contributed one billion yen to the foundation to resolve the issue of comfort women under the agreement. Comfort women refer to those who were allegedly forced into prostitution for Japanese troops before and during World War II.

On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized South Korea's decision to liquidate the foundation, saying, "If a promise between countries is broken, their relations would fail to function."

On the same day, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba lodged a protest to South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Su-hoon.

Seoul's latest decision came at a time when the two Asian neighbors' relations have been strained following a South Korean top court order last month for a Japanese company to pay compensation to South Korean wartime laborers.

The South Korean government takes a position of not scrapping the comfort women accord or seeking a renegotiation.

For the time being, the Japanese government intends to continue urging South Korea to deal appropriately with the issues of the comfort women foundation and wartime labor. Foreign Minister Taro Kono asked Seoul to steadily implement the comfort women accord.

Japan hopes to avoid fierce confrontation with South Korea, in light of North Korea's nuclear and missile development and the issue of its past abductions of Japanese citizens.

Asked about the possibility of recalling the Japanese ambassador to South Korea at a press conference on Wednesday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, "We need to consider the matter while taking into account the importance of exchanging opinions with South Korea on the North Korean issues and gathering related information."

Suga also said that the Japanese government will urge South Korea to refrain from using the one billion yen in a way that contradicts Japan's intention, adding that Tokyo will not ask Seoul to return the funds. Jiji Press