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Julian Ryall

Conservatives in Japan have expressed anger over the publication in Seoul this week of a report about “comfort women” and they warn that it is just the first move by Moon Jae-in, the front-runner in the upcoming South Korean presidential election, to reopen an issue that was settled by the two governments in 2015.
South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family began distributing the 216-page report on Thursday, as well as an accompanying book of data, through government agencies and posted the information on its website.
South Korean ‘comfort women’ continue to fight sex slavery accord with Japan
According to Yonhap News, the report is the result of analysis by 10 professors and experts who set out to shed light on the experiences of Korean women who were forced to serve in front line brothels for Japanese troops before and during the second world war.
The study includes historical details, testimony by victims and witnesses and the positions of the governments in both Japan and South Korea on an issue that has long been a hurdle to better bilateral relations.
Why Korea’s ‘comfort women’ must be remembered
Of particular concern to Tokyo will be the declaration that the agreement reached in 2015 to draw a line under the issue is effectively irrelevant because it failed to clearly state the legal responsibility of Japan for the forced mobilisation of as many as 200,000 women to serve as “comfort women” – most of them from the Korean Peninsula.

“The two governments agreed in 2015 to finally end this issue and Japan agreed to provide money to women who claimed to have been comfort women, and the government of president Park [Geun-hye] stuck to that agreement,” said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.
“Park has now gone and it seems obvious that the government has had a hand in this new report,” he told the South China Morning Post.
Moon is expected to win and he has repeatedly said that he intends to renegotiate this agreement, so I see the publication of this report as a small precursor of what is coming
Yoichi Shimada, Fukui Prefectural University
The timing is “closely connected” to the presidential election next Tuesday, Shimada said.
“Moon is expected to win and he has repeatedly said that he intends to renegotiate this agreement, so I see the publication of this report as a small precursor of what is coming.”
Hiromichi Moteki, acting chairman of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, said Moon has already demonstrated an “extraordinary anti-Japanese attitude” and he believes it is “inevitable that relations between the two nations will worsen further”.
Japanese minister slams South Korean group’s plan to erect ‘comfort women’ statue on disputed isles
“Korea’s anti-Japanese ideology is ridiculous,” Moteki added. “It is used as a way of appealing to the public in the run-up to elections, such as we are seeing now, when instead they should be focusing their efforts on North Korea as an enemy.
“Moon has said nothing about North Korea’s aggressive policies but scores points by attacking Japan.”
According to Moteki’s organisation, no women were abducted or coerced by the Japanese military into becoming comfort women. Instead, the women were well-paid prostitutes legally employed by brothel operators.
Shimada points out that there has been no official response from Tokyo to the publication of the new report in South Korea “because it is clear that the Japanese side is sticking to the agreement that was signed”.
“The US was in many ways the arbiter of this agreement as it did not want its two closest security allies in the region arguing,” he said. “And there are many people in Washington who are today watching what is happening in Seoul and feel that the side that violates the agreement should lose the support of the US on this issue. Japan will, I believe, be patient.”


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Japan’s Conservatives warn  ‘comfort women’ issue to be reopened by Seoul’s Moon Jae-in

South Korean supporters of former 'comfort women' gather in front of the statue symbolizing a wartime sex slaves at the weekly rally against the Japanese government, near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: EPA

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 28, 2017 shows South Korean presidential candidate Moon Jae-In (C) of the Democratic Party of Korea preparing before a televised debate in Seoul. With their last president detained and awaiting trial for corruption, South Koreans go to the polls on May 9 to choose her successor, but the economic and social frustrations that fuelled anger against Park Geun-Hye remain. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / JUNG Yeon-Je / TO GO WITH SKorea-politics-vote, ADVANCER by Jung HaWon

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