hankyoreh

Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-moon delivers a keynote address at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 23. (provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Citing an agreement reached with Seoul on Dec. 28, 2015, Tokyo has objected to the remark by a South Korean diplomat that the comfort women issue is a “universal human rights issue” that humanity should work together to resolve. It’s audacious of the Japanese government to take issue with such an innocuous remark.

During a keynote address at the UN Human Rights Council on Feb. 23, South Korea’s Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon said, “The current and future generations need to learn an invaluable lesson from the painful experience of the comfort women survivors. The tragedy of the comfort women should be approached as a universal human rights issue.”

“The surviving comfort women are in their 90s, and their numbers are gradually decreasing. The South Korean government will continue working to restore their dignity and honor,” Choi added.

Not a single word Choi said is false. He didn’t even mention Japan, out of consideration for the South Korea-Japan relationship.

Nevertheless, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato retorted on Feb. 24 that “Japan cannot accept this kind of remark in light of the comfort women agreement that we reached with South Korea [in December 2015], which confirmed that the comfort women issue has been finally and irreversibly resolved.”

The Japanese delegation to Geneva also asserted during the UN Human Rights Council that “Japan has carried out everything that it promised in the comfort women agreement, including paying 1 billion yen [US$9.41 million].”

The Japanese government also responded to a South Korean court ruling last month, which ordered Japan to compensate the comfort women survivors. It described the ruling as “very regrettable and unacceptable” and “a manifest contradiction of international law and bilateral agreements.”

The South Korean delegation to Geneva offered a point-by-point rebuttal of Japan’s objections. “The essence of the comfort women issue is the human rights violation of sexual violence committed during a conflict. Therefore, the victims cannot be prevented from raising that issue,” the delegation said, while explaining that the South Korean court had ruled that sovereign immunity does not apply to grave crimes against humanity.

In the comfort women agreement signed in December 2015, Seoul promised to refrain from criticizing or attacking Tokyo about the comfort women in international fora such as the UN, but it never said it wouldn’t mention the comfort women issue. Whatever excuses Tokyo attempts to make, the comfort women issue was an unforgivable war crime perpetrated against women. Japan’s legal responsibility for that crime is a historical fact that cannot be suppressed.

While it’s true that Seoul needs to work on improving relations with Tokyo, it also needs to keep raising awareness that the comfort women issue is a matter of universal human rights that we should remember and redress together with the international community.

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