South Korea 'comfort women' comments at UN spark Japan anger

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Japan reacted angrily on Monday after South Korea’s foreign minister made comments about World War Two “comfort women” at the UN, an issue Japan’s ambassador said had been “resolved finally and irreversibly,” making the new remarks “totally unacceptable.”

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha vowed her government “will take steps to help heal their scars and restore (the) dignity and honor" of comfort women – referring to women forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese army during World War Two.

"My government has humbly acknowledged that previous efforts to resolve the issue had clearly lacked a victim-centered approach,” she added.

The issue of comfort women has plagued relations between Japan and South Korea for years. In 2015 however, the two countries struck a deal under which Japan apologized to the women and paid one billion yen (now 9.4 million US dollars) into a support fund.

Most comfort women, who were forced to work in wartime brothels, came from Korea and China, but also the Philippines and southeast Asian countries. The surviving victims are now in their 80s and 90s.

People protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul near a statue symbolizing comfort women' who were forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, January 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

On Monday, Japan's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Junichi Ihara, hit back at Kang’s comments.

"Japan is of the view that Minister Kang Kyung-wha's bringing up the issue in her statement this morning is totally unacceptable and I myself conveyed our position to (South Korea's) permanent representative here," he told reporters.

The comfort women issue was "resolved finally and irreversibly” in the 2015 deal, Ihara insisted.

The deal foresaw that "Japan and the ROK (South Korea) will mutually refrain from accusing or criticizing each other regarding this issue in the international community, including at the United Nations," he added, arguing that the two nations "have a responsibility... to steadily implement the agreement."

Japan and South Korea are key US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, whose cooperation in security matters, including international efforts to rein in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear and missile drive, is crucial.

"Unfortunately, between Japan and the ROK, the issue continues to be an obstacle to the future-oriented bilateral relationship," Ihara said.

Last month already, South Korea urged Japan to issue a fresh apology to comfort women. Tokyo refused.

(With input from agencies)

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