South Korea launches task force to examine comfort women accord

July 31, 2017

SEOUL- The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Monday that it has set up a task force to review the December 2015 accord between South Korea and Japan to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue of comfort women. The working group is expected to thoroughly examine the process of negotiations for the bilateral deal for the women forced into prostitution for Japanese troops chiefly during World War II. Based on the outcome, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will decide how to handle the accord. The nine-member group, including experts from the private sector, is headed by Oh Tai-kyu, former chief editorial writer of the South Korean daily Hankyoreh. The members discussed what to do from now on at their first meeting Monday, according to the ministry. Moon so far has not mentioned the possibility of Seoul renegotiating the 2015 deal with Tokyo , although he pointed out most of South Korean people cannot accept it emotionally. Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a domestic newspaper earlier this month that her ministry would launch the task force and that renegotiating the deal could be an option depending on the result of its review. Upon the group's launch, Kang urged the members to scrutinize the agreement from the viewpoint of the victims of Japan 's wartime prostitution system. At a press conference after the first meeting, Oh said that basically the task force will interview with all people involved. If Tokyo agrees, the group will also look at the Japanese side, he added. Jiji Press