Comfort woman survivor calls for return of funds provided from Dec. 2015 agreement

Posted on : 2018-01-08 16:57 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Kim Bok-dong also wants the disbandment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha meets with comfort woman survivor Kim Bok-dong at Severance Hospital in Seoul on Jan. 7. (taken from the Facebook page of Yoon Mee-hyang
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha meets with comfort woman survivor Kim Bok-dong at Severance Hospital in Seoul on Jan. 7. (taken from the Facebook page of Yoon Mee-hyang

“Why not get rid of the [Reconciliation and Healing] Foundation? The foundation should be eliminated, and the government should send back the money it received from Japan.”

Japanese military comfort woman survivor Kim Bok-dong spoke with a clear voice to Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, who paid a visit on Jan. 7 to the hospital where Kim is being treated for infirmities related to her advanced age.

Yoon Mee-hyang, co-representative of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop), posted a video of Kim and Kang’s meeting to her Facebook page on Jan. 7. Despite being bedridden with ill health, Kim can be seen waving her hands up and down in the video as she emphatically calls for the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation to “be disbanded” and for South to “return the money it received from Japan.”

“It is a bit insensible that the money is used to pay [Foundation staffers],” Kang said, adding that the money issue would be “dealt with in a way you will appreciate.”

Sharing news of Kang’s meeting on Jan. 6 with comfort women survivors outside of the Seoul area, Yoon wrote, “Our Kim Bok-dong appears to be in very good condition today.”

“She expressed her thoughts, responding to Minister Kang Kyung-wha’s greeting of ‘I don’t even get Sunday off’ by saying, ‘You don’t show any signs of working either,’ and complaining, ‘You can’t seem to disband the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation or give back the billion yen [received from the Japanese government].’”

“Her declaration that she plans to ‘fight’ forces us to look back on ourselves,” Yoon wrote on her Facebook page.

Speaking to President Moon Jae-in during his visit on Jan. 4, Kim said, “You survived when bullets were flying every day, and yet you can’t overcome something like this? You need to send back Japan’s ‘consolation payment.’”

“But it’s a difficult thing at such a complex time, and we will wait and trust in the government,” she continued. “We are also getting on in years, and we want you to focus your energies as President so that this issue is resolved.”

In reply, Moon said, “Even if I can’t do everything that you want, I would like you to rest assured that the government will do its best.”

Kim has been undergoing treatment at Severance Hospital in Seoul’s Sinchon neighborhood for over a week for conditions related to her advanced age.

By Jang Su-gyung, staff reporter

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