Article and interview on "comfort women" from Koreatimes.
Ambassador Choi Suk-inn has been tasked with resolving a dispute involving Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, which has remained unsettled since the end of World War II.
The issue has often
frayed diplomatic ties with Tokyo, yet the
government has come nowhere near to a fundamental solution, largely due to Japan’s refusal
to cooperate.
In a recent interview
with The Korea Times, Choi said he is “braced for all situations that could
arise” and will “never compromise with Japan.”
The senior diplomat
chairs a task force established in September to deal with the tricky issue
under the umbrella of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT).
“Our ultimate goal is
making Japan acknowledge its legal liability for the wartime atrocity and
compensate victims accordingly,” he said. “We will never accept any proposal
from Japan to settle the problem unless it makes a formal apology and provides
compensation.”
Choi said if Tokyo
keeps up with its current stance, the government will forward the case for
international arbitration.
“This is a step we have
never taken ever before,” he said. “If deemed necessary, however, the
government is willing to take it.” He refused to elaborate on the
administration’s strategy on arbitration, citing the sensitive nature of the
issue.
This fresh path toward
resolution comes after Japan
refused to accept MOFAT’s proposal to hold a bilateral meeting to discuss the
matter. The foreign ministry made the first proposal in September and sent a
second one in mid-November.
“What matters is when
and how we take the case to international arbitration,” he said. “Nothing has
been decided on yet.”
So far, several
presidents have repeatedly demanded that Tokyo apologize for the sexual
enslavement of Korean women for frontline Japanese soldiers, euphemistically
called “comfort women,” and offer due compensation to the victims. The United
States and the United Nations have joined the diplomatic maneuver, defining
sexual slavery as a “war crime.”
Hundreds of people,
including five victims, staged a landmark 1,000th weekly rally in front of the
Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Dec. 14, making their long-running outcry heard
worldwide.
In the latest effort,
President Lee Myung-bak urged Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in an
unusually strong tone to resolve the issue during a summit on Dec. 18, calling
it a “stumbling block” in relations between the two countries.
But all of these moves
have fallen short of convincing Japan.
The neighboring country
keeps insisting that its legal liability for the wrongdoing was cleared by a
Seoul-Tokyo treaty signed in 1965 to normalize diplomatic ties. Korea was
Japan’s colony from 1910-1945.
Feeling pressured by
escalating international criticism, Japan recently moved to coddle victims here
with handsome compensation from a state fund, a move to resolve the dispute
while avoiding a first-hand apology.
Choi said this was
unacceptable.
“This is not a matter of
money,” he underscored. “It’s a matter of pride for our country and the
victims. I will never step back in negotiations with Japan.”
Seoul has been taking
such actions since its Constitutional Court ruled in August that it was
unconstitutional for the government to make no specific effort to settle the
matter with Tokyo.
Historians say that
tens of thousands of Asian women, mostly Koreans, were forced into sexual
servitude at frontline Japanese brothels during World War II. A total of 234
women were registered with the government as former comfort women — of them
only 63, mostly in their 80s and 90s, are still alive.
