December
18, 2011
KYOTO--Visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Dec. 18 to take a proactive approach to resolving the thorny issue of compensation to South Korean women forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Noda, however, repeated the Japanese government's oft-stated position that the issue was resolved in 1965 when the two countries normalized their diplomatic relations. In that agreement, the issue of rights to compensation was included in a lump sum of money paid to South Korea.
Noda and Lee met for summit talks at the Kyoto State Guest House.
According to sources who briefed South Korean reporters on the outcome of the talks, Lee told Noda, "Japan has to show true courage to preferentially resolve the issue of 'comfort women' (a euphemistic expression for sex slaves) that has been serving as an obstacle to bilateral relations."
After the meeting, Noda told reporters: "I told President Lee, 'Our country's legal stance has been already decided. The issue has been settled.'"
As for a commemorative statue erected in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Dec. 14 by support organizations for former "comfort women," Noda told Lee: "It is really regrettable. I ask you to remove the statue immediately."
On the evening of Dec. 17, Lee attended a dinner party hosted by Noda at the guest house. Prior to the party, the two men met for unofficial talks.
According to the South Korean presidential office, Lee and Noda agreed in that meeting to make efforts to look squarely at the history of the two countries to develop future-oriented relations.
Earlier that day, Lee held talks in Osaka with South Korean residents in Japan. The gathering was held in the Osaka local headquarters of the Korean Residents Union in Japan, known as Mindan.
In the talks, Lee expressed his hope that Japan would take steps to resolve the issue of compensation to former "comfort women."
"If Japan resolves the issue while the former 'comfort women' are still alive, the resolution will be extremely useful for the two countries to establish future-oriented relations," he told the gathering.
"If we cannot resolve this issue, Japan will continue to shoulder the charge that it cannot resolve this pending bilateral issue forever."
A South Korean government official accompanying Lee said, "It is probably the first time that our president talked about 'comfort women' issue clearly in a public forum."
In August, a South Korean constitutional court declared, "It is illegal for the South Korean government not to negotiate with Japan on the issue of individual persons' rights to claim (compensation)."
In response to the decision, Seoul has urged Tokyo to take action. However, Japan continues to maintain that the issue was settled in the 1965 agreement.
In two previous bilateral summit meetings with Noda, held in September and October, Lee did not directly mention the issue.