S. Korea backs plan to build comfort women monument

September 27, 2017

SEOUL- A spokesman of South Korea's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday defended the government's plan to build a monument for so-called comfort women at a national cemetery in Cheonan in the central part of the country.

The South Korean government's stance is that it will continue to address the issue of Korean women who were forced into prostitution for Japanese troops before and during World War II as a historical lesson regardless of the December 2015 accord with Japan over such women, the spokesman told a press conference.

Earlier on Tuesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the monument plan goes against the bilateral accord for "finally and irreversibly" resolving the comfort women issue.

The top government spokesman added that Tokyo conveyed its concern over the plan to the South Korean side.

In response, the South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Seoul relayed to Japan its position that it cannot recognize the plan as incompatible with the bilateral accord.

The envisaged monument will be the first to be put up under the initiative of the South Korean government.

The administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, launched in May, is actively tackling the comfort women and other history issues. It is considering designating a memorial day and establishing a related research center and history museum, on top of the comfort women monument. Jiji Press