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Lee Yong-soo, 93, a survivor of the comfort women in the Japanese military, is showing a somewhat cautious stance regarding her grandmother’s request to refer the comfort women issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
On the 16th, Grandma Lee Yong-soo held a press conference at the press center in Jung-gu, Seoul and appealed with tears saying, “Please receive judgment from the ICJ so that Japan can realize and reflect on the wrongdoing.” The recent history distortion of Harvard University professor Mark Ramsayer, who defined the victims of comfort women as “voluntary prostitutes,” made his voice in person.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the main judicial body of the United Nations, and its member states are obligated to comply with the ICJ’s decisions. In the meantime, academics have often argued that’ICJ should be filed’ on the comfort women issue, but it is unusual for a survivor’s grandmother to directly request it as a’last wish’.
ICJ complaint, necessity of pre-agreement with the Japanese government
In order to be judged by the ICJ, a’political agreement’ with the Japanese government, which is a party, must precede. It is highly likely that the Japanese government does not want the comfort women issue to be publicized internationally. In fact, on that day, Japanese Foreign Minister Lee Yong-soo responded, “I will refrain from commenting because I do not know what intention and what thought he was speaking with.”
In addition, the Japanese government may suggest linking up the issue of compulsory conscription compensation and the issue of sovereignty over Dokdo when the Korean government requests the ICJ. Until now, the Korean government has deliberately ignored the Japanese government’s voice to’refer to the ICJ’ over the issue of Dokdo sovereignty.
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Currently, only 15 survivors of comfort women
In addition, it is a public opinion that the administration of Joe Biden will also take a negative stance to refer to the ICJ, which can lead to a growing conflict between Korea and Japan, while emphasizing’trilateral cooperation between the United States and Korea. However, it is argued that the Korean government can obtain satisfactory results in terms of’non-monetary’ such as Japan’s apology, while Japan can achieve satisfactory results in terms of’financial’ such as extinguishing individual claims and violating sovereign exemption.
Meanwhile, on the 12th, the number of survivors declined to 15 as Grandma Bok-soo Jung, the oldest among survivors of comfort women, died.
Kim Im-soo Editor: [email protected]