WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

Please See 2 Parts of This WUNRN Release on World War II Comfort Women.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/10/reporting-from-seoul-following-decades-of-frustration-personal-protests-and-governmental-declarations-south-korea-on-we.html

COMFORT WOMEN - SOUTH KOREA PRESSES JAPAN AT UN ON COMFORT WOMEN SEXUAL SLAVES OF WORLD WAR II

Seoul, South Korea - October 12, 2011 - After decades of frustration, personal protests and government  declarations,  South Korea appealed to the United Nations in its demand that Japan take “legal responsibility” for enslaving an estimated 200,000 Korean women as prostitutes during World War II.

Known euphemistically as “comfort women,” the victims were forced to provide sexual services for Japanese soldiers based on the Korean peninsula. For years, Japan has paid lip service to South Korean demands for monetary payments to surviving victims, leading South Korea to seek support through the court of world opinion.

 “This systematic rape and sexual slavery constitute war crimes, and also, under defined circumstances, crimes against humanity,” Shin Dong-ik, South Korea’s deputy chief envoy to the U.N., told a General Assembly committee.

 The statement is the first time in nearly a generation that a Korean diplomat has raised the issue at the U.N.’s Third Committee. Each year since 1992, South Korea has broached the issue at the less influential U.N. Human Rights Council.

 A Japanese representative at the committee hearing acknowledged the use of Koreans as comfort women during the war, and he expressed remorse. However, Japan, which occupied the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, has insisted that the issue was settled by a 1965 compensation package in which South Korea reportedly received $300 million.

 Many surviving comfort women have waged regular protests at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. In December, the women will hold their 1,000^th protest.

 The issue will be revisited during an Oct. 19  summit here between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

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http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201112180020

COMFORT WOMEN - POLITICAL MEETING - SOUTH KOREA URGES COMPENSATION - JAPAN HOLDS FORMER POSITION OF ISSUE SETTLED

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.