Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa greets with a firm expression before announcing the government’s position on the direction of handling the Korea-Japan comfort women agreement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul in January 2018. yunhap news
In response to the Korean court ruling on the 8th that the Japanese government should compensate the victims of comfort women by 100 million, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We respect the court’s judgment.” At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added, “The comfort women agreement in December 2015 was an official agreement between the two governments.”
On the surface, the front and back do not fit. The agreement between Korea and Japan, which was signed in 2015 during the Park Geun-hye administration, was virtually canceled by the Moon Jae-in administration because the victims’ position was not reflected. President Moon Jae-in said, “Agreement without Japanese legal responsibility and official apology is invalid.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Please understand the comments as they are,” regarding the background of mentioning the ‘2015 Agreement’.
On the 8th of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the confused position was interpreted as being’conscious of the Japanese government’. Japan has shown a position to respect the 2015 agreement, saying, “The Korean and Japanese governments have confirmed that the comfort women issue in the Japanese military is a’final and irreversible solution’ in 2015.” He said he was trying to prevent an immediate catastrophe by leaving room.
Although the Korean government did not officially renounce the 2015 agreement, it was far from acknowledging the attitude. After the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, a joint public-private task force (TF) was formed in 2017 to review the comfort women agreement process and concluded that there was a “significant flaw”. On the basis of the agreement in 2015, the’Reconciliation Healing Foundation’, which included the Japanese government contribution (1 billion yen), was dissolved in 2018.
Seungim Jeong reporter [email protected]
Subscribe to the Hankook Ilbo News Naver Channel
Balance to see the world, the Hankook Ilbo Copyright © Hankookilbo