[Editorial] Humiliating comfort women settlement incurs fierce backlash

Posted on : 2016-01-05 17:24 KST Modified on : 2016-01-05 17:24 KST
Former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo
Former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo

As we enter the new year, backlash is growing fiercer against the Dec. 28 agreement between South Korea and Japan on the so-called comfort women, which presented the troublesome issue of removing the statue of a young girl (a symbol of the comfort women) but failed to force Japan to accept any clear legal responsibility. Stormy reactions to the agreement were expected because it falls far short of meeting the criteria for resolution of the problem as laid forth by South Korean president Park Geun-hye, who has consistently asserted that it should be “of a level that the victims can accept and the nation will consent to.” However, the counter-response has been much stronger than had been imagined. Opposition parties, academics, civic advocacy groups, students, and even members of the National Assembly are clamoring for the agreement to be annulled and renegotiated. The government’s self-congratulatory stance and unilateral PR campaign is likely to worsen the situation.

Particularly noteworthy is the fierce criticism put forth on Jan. 4 by academic specialists researching the issue of the comfort women. They took this agreement as an opportunity to form “a group to promote the establishment of a society for research on women forced to serve as comfort women by the Japanese Imperial Army.” As these researchers are the top in their field both in Korea and abroad, their pronouncements carry a lot of weight. They have pointed out that “the core of the comfort women problem is the responsibility that Japan bears as a nation for the crime of forcing so many women to serve as sex slaves” and that “if Japan wishes to unburden itself of that responsibility, it must, in accordance with the common legal practices of the international community, acknowledge the facts, apologize, compensate the victims, closely examine what occurred, teach real history, memorialize the victims, and punish those who were directly responsible.” However, the Dec. 28 agreement fulfills none of these requirements.

Political declarations and sit-in protests are spreading on university campuses. In declarations and press conferences by the student councils of Ewha Womans University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, students pressed for the nullification of the agreement, and the student bodies of other colleges called for the opening of a meeting of student representatives to censure the agreement. More than 20 college students and members of youth groups have been demonstrating by the statue of a young woman in front of the Japanese Embassy for six days now, and Japanese citizens are also expressing their opinion in protests in front of their prime minister’s residence.

Park Geun-hye’s administration has brought this situation upon itself. When she first took office, the government took a hard-line position in its diplomatic relations with Japan, insisting that “relations cannot be improved without a resolution of the issue of the comfort women.” But under internal and external pressure concerning the importance of better relations with Japan, this policy was tragically allowed to fall by the wayside. Those responsible for this lack of foresight and for waffling on relations with Japan will of course have to answer to history. They do not have the gall to show themselves in front of the victims, only appearing detestable as they repeat their excuse of having “done their best within the limits of the situation.”

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