S. Korea Begins Procedures to Dissolve Comfort Women Foundation

December 14, 2018

Seoul--South Korea has launched procedures to dissolve a foundation established to support former wartime "comfort women," an official at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Friday.

The foundation was set up under a 2015 agreement between Tokyo and Seoul to resolve their dispute over Korean comfort women, who were forced into prostitution for Japanese troops before and during World War II.

On Nov. 21, South Korea announced a decision to dissolve the foundation. The start of the procedures is expected to prompt a harsh response from Tokyo, which has been calling on Seoul to implement the 2015 agreement.

The ministry is conducting hearings with the foundation's directors and others as the first stage of the dissolution procedures, according to the official.

It will officially revoke its permission for the foundation to operate after comprehensively assessing the results of the hearings.

It will take some six months to one year to complete the procedures, including disposal of residual assets, the official said.

A former Korean comfort woman died at the age of 92 on Friday, according to the ministry. The number of living former comfort women registered with the South Korean government thus fell to 25. Jiji Press