The Japanese government is in the final stages of discussions on using government funds to pay for medical and welfare services for the surviving 46 South Korean ‘comfort women’, the Asahi newspaper reported, citing sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will visit South Korea on December 28 for talks with his counterpart Yun Byung-se on the sensitive issue, it was announced on Friday. The Japanese government is considering setting up a new fund for the women, the Asahi reported.
According to the Asahi, the main focus of the negotiations have been the wording that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will use in a message or letter to the surviving women, a visit by the Japanese ambassador to the women and health and welfare services for the women paid for with Japanese government money.
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The Japanese government has not publicly revealed any proposal it has to South Korea to settle the issue, but the source said the fund is one idea and Japan is considering shouldering over 100 million yen (US$831,276) for the fund.
The Japanese side also intends to call on South Korea to guarantee that the comfort women issue is settled once and for all and put this into writing in an agreement envisioned during the next summit talks, the source said.
Abe agreed last month with South Korean President Park Geun Hye to speed up talks to address the issue of women, including women from the Korean Peninsula.
“The comfort women issue is a difficult one but I will do the best I can until the last minute (to make progress on the issue),” Kishida told reporters in Tokyo, announcing his trip at the instruction of Abe to visit South Korea by the end of this year.