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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's decision to dissolve a Japan-funded foundation to compensate South Korean women forced to work in the brothels of the Second World War set fire to diplomats in between countries, who share a bitter history of war.
Wednesday's announcement was predictable, with many South Koreans believing that the previous Conservative government in Seoul had settled far less well in the 2015 deal and that Japan had still not acknowledged its legal responsibility for atrocities. during his colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Meanwhile, Japan is unhappy that South Korea is backing away from an internationally recognized deal.
Looking at the intensification of the conflict between South Korea and Japan:
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THE WOMEN
Women forced to work in brothels came mainly from Japan and Korea, but also from the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Asian countries. They were sent to hundreds of front-line brothels called "comfort posts" to provide sexual services to the Japanese army that invaded and occupied Asian countries from the early 1930s to the end of the Second World War. .
Documents from the war show that the Japanese army oversaw brothels and set tariffs, hours of service and hygiene standards. Government documents indicate that the goal was to prevent soldiers from raping women and arouse anti-Japanese sentiment, as well as prevent venereal diseases and Chinese spying.
Initially, some were poor Japanese professionals or families, according to historians. In South Korea, they were often deceived by local agents who recruited them for promising factory work. Later in the war, many minors in the Philippines were kidnapped, raped, or forced to work in brothels, some victims said.
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STANCE OF JAPAN
The Japanese government has repeatedly denied any restraint, and more recently, has refused to use the term "sex slave" to refer to women in the English media and US documents.
Japan has strengthened its position in recent years, particularly under the nationalist government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has stated that there is no official document attesting to the systematic use of coercion by the war government. Some far-right legislators have stated that South Korean women forced to work in brothels were all prostitutes. Survivors' sympathizers and journalists who write articles about them are increasingly assaulted.
The issue erupted in 2014 after a former journalist of the left-leaning Japanese newspaper Asahi was accused of having invented his story about the first South Korean survivor who came forward. which resulted in defamation suits in Japan.
Statues honoring victims in the United States and elsewhere by South Korean groups have also displeased the Japanese government.
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WOMEN'S DEMANDS
The former victims sought compensation and apologies to the Japanese government. In 1995, Japan established the Asian Women's Fund, a semi-governmental organization, to fund compensatory projects for victims throughout Asia, including South Koreans.
In total, the fund disbursed nearly 5 billion yen ($ 44.2 million) to fund medical and social care projects for all recognized women throughout Asia, including women and men. South Korean. But many more in South Korea rejected the fund because of pressure from their support group's policy to demand official compensation.
Historians estimate that the total number of victims ranges from 20,000 to 200,000. In South Korea, about 240 women presented themselves and were registered with the government as victims and only 27 of them are still desire.
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The case 2015
Under the agreement reached in December 2015, Japan has committed to fund a Seoul-based foundation to support the victims. However, Japan stated that it did not consider the billion yen it was providing to the fund as compensation, insisting that all compensation issues in wartime were settled in a treaty of 1965 which restored diplomatic relations between countries and accompanied more than 800 million dollars of economic savings. grants and loans from Tokyo to Seoul.
In exchange, South Korea has promised to refrain from criticizing Japan on this issue and will attempt to resolve Japan's complaint regarding the statue of a girl representing victims of sexual slavery placed in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul.
The agreement originally described by Seoul and Tokyo as "final and irreversible" turned out to be anything but a reality. Many victims refused to pay. Anti-Japanese militants have rallied fiercely, accusing the government of former conservative President Park Geun-hye of "selling" the honor and dignity of aging victims. Students started camping in the street in front of the embassy to protect the statue from potential attempts to remove it. A 64-year-old Buddhist monk died after being set on fire to protest the agreement reached in January 2017.
Japan expressed anger at South Korea's failure to take specific measures to remove the statue and similar monuments from other parts of the country, insisting that this was clearly understood.
South Korean liberal President Moon Jae-in, who was elected last May following the dismissal of Park following a corruption scandal, said in December 2017 that the 2015 deal was gravely tainted by a vice because the Park government had not communicated well with the victims. treat.
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HISTORICAL QUESTIONS
The legacy of sexual slavery is not the only subject of contention between South Korea and Japan.
Countries disagree with last month's Seoul Supreme Court ruling that a major Japanese steelmaker should compensate four South Koreans for forced labor under Japanese colonial rule on the Korean peninsula by the end of the second World War.
Seoul also expressed resentment over Tokyo's land claims over disputed eastern islands occupied by South Korea. Last month, Japan refused to send a warship to an international center organized by South Korea after Seoul demanded the removal of its "Rising Sun" flag, which many South Koreans consider a symbol of Japanese aggression.
The bitter Seoul and Tokyo conflicts over history have complicated Washington's efforts to strengthen trilateral cooperation to address North Korea's nuclear threat and China's growing influence in the region. Japan also expressed distrust of South Korea's proximity to rivalry in recent months, stressing the need to maintain pressure until the North takes concrete steps to give up its arms. nuclear weapons and its missiles.
"The Moon Government is trying to maintain a two-track approach: to cooperate with Tokyo on security and economic issues, but to firmly address issues of history and land claims," said Bong Young-shik , analyst at Yonsei University in Seoul.
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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
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