Japan PM rejects ROK call for new steps to help 'comfort women'
CGTN
["china"]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday rejected the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s call for more steps to help "comfort women," a euphemism for women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II, and urged Seoul to honor a 2015 pact on the divisive topic.
Japan and the ROK share a bitter history that includes Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and the "comfort women" issue is especially touchy. The US allies are key to efforts to rein in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile programs.
The ROK said this week that the 2015 agreement, struck by President Moon Jae-in's conservative predecessor, had failed to meet the victims' needs and resolve the feud.
Protesters sit next to the statue of a teenage girl symbolizing former "comfort women," who served as sex slaves for Japanese army during World War II, during a weekly anti-Japan rally near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on January 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

Protesters sit next to the statue of a teenage girl symbolizing former "comfort women," who served as sex slaves for Japanese army during World War II, during a weekly anti-Japan rally near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on January 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

The 2015 agreement was "a promise between the two nations. Keeping this promise is an international and universal principle. We cannot accept South Korea's (ROK) unilateral demands for additional measures," Abe told reporters.
"We have been sincere in executing every promise we made. We want to continue to strongly ask South Korea (ROK) to do the same."
Seoul is not seeking to renegotiate the agreement, which the two sides had said would "finally and irreversibly" end the feud if both sides stuck to it. Under the deal, Japan apologized again and promised one billion yen (8.99 million US dollars) for a fund to help the women.
But the ROK has urged Tokyo to take additional steps, including a fresh apology.
Japanese media reports have said Abe may not attend the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, ROK next month because of the feud, although the government's top spokesman said on Thursday that it had not been decided.
Source(s): Reuters