President Moon Jae-in formally apologized to comfort women survivors on Jan. 4 for a Dec. 2015 agreement reached with the Japanese government on the comfort women issue during the Park Geun-hye administration.
“I am sorry that the discussions were held against the [survivors’] wishes, without even hearing their opinions,” he said of the agreement from Dec. 28, 2015. After previously ordering “follow-up measures according to the victim-centered resolution principle” the day after a task force examining the agreement published its findings on Dec. 27, Moon was meeting that day to humbly explain the government’s position to the survivors themselves.
On Jan. 4, Moon invited eight of the former comfort women – including Lee Yong-su, Gil Won-ok and Lee Ok-seon – to the Blue House for lunch. It was the first time these women had received an exclusive invitation to the Blue House. “When Korea lost its sovereignty in the past, we failed to protect the people, and you suffered awful things as well. Since liberation restored our sovereignty, we ought to have embraced your pain and addressed your grievances, but we failed to do that. Instead, we didn’t listen to your views, and we signed an agreement against your will. I’m sorry about that, and as the president, I’d like to offer my apology,” he said.
“Seeing you feels like seeing my own mother. It was my dream to host all of you at the Blue House, and I’m glad to finally have you all in one place. I hope that you’ll regard this as an effort by the government to do the right thing,” Moon said. The president asked the women to forgive the government for its incompetence, irresponsibility and imprudence and officially acknowledged in front of the former comfort women that the Park Geun-hye administration had been wrong to push through the comfort women agreement with Japan on Dec. 28, 2015, without taking these women’s opinions into account.
“Our desire is to get an apology. Each and every day we’re worried we won’t get an apology. Please help us get an apology,” Lee Ok-seon said in response.
The lunch also signified that the government is taking steps to rectify the Dec. 28 agreement, which Moon described on Dec. 28, 2017, as having “grave deficiencies.” On Dec. 27, the Foreign Ministry Task Force that reviewed the comfort women agreement disclosed that the two countries had made a secret agreement and concluded that a major shortcoming was that its approach had not been adequately victim-centered. That was the reason that Moon arranged an opportunity to personally listen to the women’s opinions.
Indeed, Moon encouraged the women to share their views, which he said would help the government decide on its course of action, and the women asked Moon to secure an official apology from the Japanese government. “Every day after the Dec. 28 agreement, I felt frustrated and aggrieved, as if I was sick to my stomach. It was such a relief for the president to explain in detail why the agreement was wrong, and I wept in gratitude. We have been demanding an official apology and legal compensation [from the Japanese government] for 26 years, and we’re determined to keep fighting until we achieve this,” Lee Yong-su said.
“How much life do we have left to live? Just get an apology for us. We trust the president and the government,” said Lee Ok-seon.
It still unclear what steps the government will take. While Moon acknowledged on Jan. 4 that the agreement had been a mistake both in terms of its content and its procedures, he also hinted at the difficulty of the government coming up with a solution. “It’s undeniable that this was an official agreement between South Korea and Japan,” he said. “This needs to be worked out in the context of bilateral relations, but that won’t be easy.”
The Blue House announced that at 10 am on Jan. 10, Moon will be holding a press conference at the Blue House attended by more than 250 reporters, both from the domestic and the foreign press, and that Moon will be delivering his New Year’s speech at this event. Considering that Moon has instructed the government to “prepare follow-up measures within a short period of time,” the follow-up measures to the agreement are likely to be mentioned during this press conference.
In related news, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a New Year’s press conference on Jan. 4, but he did not make any remarks about the comfort women issue or the related agreement, nor were any questions asked about these issues.
By Kim Bo-hyeop and Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporters and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent
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