Comfort women foundation committee launched in South Korea

The establishment of the foundation comes under the terms of a landmark deal reached between South Korea and Japan on December 28 to resolve the simmering bilateral issue

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South Korean university students hold a rally in front of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in central Seoul, South Korea, 31 May 2016, to oppose the establishment of a foundation for the victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery, also known as comfort women. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:06pm, 31 May 2016Updated: 4:06pm, 31 May 2016

A preparation committee was launched on Tuesday to carry out work for the establishment of a foundation tasked with helping improve the lives of ageing former Korean comfort women, who were forced into wartime brothels for the Japanese military.

The committee, comprised of 11 members, held its first meeting the same day.

“I feel a heavy sense of responsibility by having a sensitive and important mission at this important time,” Kim Tae-hyun, who heads the committee, told reporters after chairing the meeting.

Kim, an honorary professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, said the committee will start listening to the opinions of the victims as the primary task of the foundation, and the deal behind it, is to restore their honour and dignity.

The establishment of the foundation comes under the terms of a landmark deal reached between South Korea and Japan on December 28 to resolve the simmering bilateral issue “finally and irreversibly”.

The terms of the agreement included an apology and a financial pledge by Japan of one billion yen (HK$69 million) to establish a foundation to be founded by the South Korean government.