Japan, S/Korea agree to ‘comfort women’ settlement

Japan and South Korea have reached a landmark agreement that both countries’ foreign ministers say resolves the longstanding dispute over Tokyo’s responsibility to “comfort women” who were forced to work as prostitutes in Japanese military brothels in World War II.  In Seoul Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se […]

Japan and South Korea have reached a landmark agreement that both countries’ foreign ministers say resolves the longstanding dispute over Tokyo’s responsibility to “comfort women” who were forced to work as prostitutes in Japanese military brothels in World War II. 
In Seoul Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se announced they reached a settlement that includes both financial restitution and an official apology from Japan.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has repeatedly called on Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make a “sincere apology” and offer reparations to the 46 remaining Korean “comfort women,” who are now in their 80s and 90s.
It is estimated that 200,000 women throughout the Pacific region were forced into sex slavery by the Japanese military during Japan’s colonization of Asia and in World War II.
The Japanese foreign minister also confirmed that Tokyo agreed to pay 1 billion yen (over $8 million) to support the comfort women. The money will go into a South Korean fund similar to a 1997-2007 Japanese initiative called the Asian Women’s Fund, set up in to offer assistance to “comfort women.” Kishida said the funding was not compensation but rather a donation.
In exchange, Seoul agrees to consider the issue permanently settled, both legally and politically. Both countries are expected to sign a formal agreement that relieves Japan of any further responsibility and liability for all past wartime grievances.