“The judgment of the comfort women is embarrassing.”

The ruling of a Korean court that first recognized the Japanese government’s liability for damages to victims of Japanese military comfort women was confirmed on the 23rd. However, the government said, “It will not make any additional claims to Japan,” and the comfort women victim side protested on the 25th, saying, “The victims are leaving to force themselves to be enforced.”

On this day, attorney Kim Kang-won, who represents the victims of comfort women, asked in a call with the JoongAng Ilbo, “Is the government and the president who were advocating human rights right?” “It seems that the government has changed its attitude conscious of its relationship with Japan. There are blood bruises in it.”

Choi Bong-tae, the special chairman of the Korean Bar Association’s Japanese victims’ rights, said, “It is the worst scenario to go to the situation where the Japanese government is forced to execute assets, and even if the government stepped up to prevent this, it would not do anything to do in a difficult situation. It’s like asking for an execution.”

President Moon Jae-in has recently changed his position on diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan. President Moon said at a press conference on the 18th that the domestic judiciary decided to compensate the victims of comfort women by 100 million won, “concerned,” and “by the way of forced execution (the property of Japanese companies or government), the ruling came true. The way to become is unfavorable for the relationship between the two countries.” This is different from the attitude that has taken a strong position on the issues of Korea and Japan.

President Moon also said, “The judgment of the comfort women admits that the 2015 agreement was an official agreement between the two governments.” In December 2017, after the announcement of the findings of the’Korea-Japan Comfort Women Agreement Review Task Force (TF)’, it was virtually overturned that it was revealed that there were “procedurally and contentually significant defects.” It is also different from what he said at a summit meeting with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February 2018, “It is not something that can be resolved through exchange-and-take negotiations between governments.”

The comfort women victim’s position is that if diplomatic solutions are not available, they will have no choice but to enter into the enforcement procedure. Attorney Kim Kang-won said, “We have already started to check the details of the assets of the Japanese government that can be seized.” It means that they will find a way to seize domestic assets of the Japanese government and sell them to convert them into compensation, as in the case of the Japanese corporate compulsory conscription.

Earlier, on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, saying, “Pay 100 million won per person” in a lawsuit filed against Japan by 12 victims of comfort women including the late Chun-hee Bae. However, according to the international treaty’Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations’, it is not possible to seize or sell domestic Japanese government assets including embassies, so enforcement is unlikely to be easy.

Lee Yong-soo (93), a comfort women victim, is in a position to attend the National Assembly personnel hearing of Candidate Eui-Yong Chung, which is scheduled to be held early next month. It is to confirm the Korean government’s willingness to resolve the comfort women issue. Attorney Choi Bong-tae said, “I don’t know what the National Assembly as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing,” he said. “I will urge you to come up with a diplomatic solution while looking into the enforcement procedure.”

Reporter Dr. Ra [email protected]