N A T IO N A L C A T H O L IC R E P O R T E R
J A N U A R Y 1 5 -2 8 , 2 0 1 6
10 WORLD
S outh Korean
p ro te s te rs ho ld
up p ic tu re s o f
deceased fo rm e r
" c o m fo rt w o m e n ”
d u rin g a ra lly near
th e Japanese
E m bassy in
Seoul, S outh
Korea, Dec. 30.
Korean Catholics say
deal over sex slavery
‘not acceptable’
By PAUL H W AN G
• Japanese and South
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Korean government officials and ana­
lysts have praised Japan’s apology
and offer of compensation for Korean
women forced into sexual slavery by
Japanese imperial occupiers in the
1930s and ’40s. Some say it hails a “new
era” in relations between the two East
Asian nations.
But activists and church members
who have worked with the women for
decades expressed disappointment
and even anger at the announcement
made in late December. They say it
does not address the women directly
and does not hold Japan culpable for a
war crime, two conditions the activists
have long called for.
As many as 200,000 women, most
of them Korean, were forced to work
in brothels run by the Japanese army
throughout the Asia-Pacific region be­
fore and during the Second World War.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio
Kishida told reporters Dec. 28 that
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had of­
fered a “heartfelt apology” and that
Japan would pay 1 billion yen (US$8.3
million) into a South Korean fund to
support women forced into the broth­
els. Forty-six “comfort women,” as
they were known, survive in South Ko­
rea today Their average age is 89.
South Korean President Park Geun-
hye called the deal, which had been
worked out between the two countries’
foreign ministers, the “final and irre­
versible” agreement on this issue.
South Korea and Japan are both
close U.S. allies, but their bilateral re­
lationship has been fraught. Japan oc­
cupied Korea from 1910 to 1945. Now
the two countries “will welcome a new
era,” Abe said in Tokyo Dec. 28.
Daejeon Bishop Lazzaro You Heong-
sik, chair of the Korean Catholic bish­
ops’ justice and peace commission,
strongly criticized the agreement, say­
ing, “It was not for the victims but for
the governments.”
Speaking to media Jan. 1 after vis­
iting women at the House of Sharing,
a shelter outside Seoul for the surviv­
ing comfort women, You said, “If the
agreement were for human rights and
regaining the damaged reputation of
the victimized women, they would be
happy and glad, but rather they are
distressed and upset.”
Activists who have supported the
women for decades say the agreement
fails to address whether Japan bears
legal responsibility for the victims.
“The bilateral agreement is sim­
ply not acceptable,” said Theresa Kim
Sun-shil, a Catholic lay leader and co­
chairperson of the Korean Council for
the Women Drafted for Military Sexu­
al Slavery by Japan. Every Wednesday
for 23 years, the council has led a ral­
ly for the women outside the Japanese
embassy in Seoul.
“As an activist who has supported
and worked for the victims, I felt that
the agreement is quite disastrous,” Kim
told NCR Jan. 3. “We have made clear
repeatedly that Japan should admit its
systematic involvement in the sexual
enslavement of Korean women as a war
crime and make an official and direct
apology as well as take legal responsi-
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simply involved but actively initiated
the activities which were criminal and
illegal,” the statement said.
The statement said the Japanese
government distances itself from its
responsibility by not taking ownership
of the foundation offering the compen­
sation. “It appears that Japan will pass
the future responsibilities on to the
government of the victims’ country af­
ter simply paying off the money”
The council also criticized the
agreement for not including what it
called “preventative initiatives,” such
as a truth commission and appropri­
ate history education.
The statement also said, “The Kore­
an government’s attitude towards this
Agreement, which is vague and in­
—N e w s c o m /E P A /A n g J i-w o o n g complete, is rather shocking.”
bilities, including legal compensation.” [P a u l H w a n g is d ir e c t o r o f t h e C e n te r f o r A s ia
She said the apology lacked sinceri­
ty, calling it “only lip service.”
“The Japanese foreign minister
P e a c e a n d S o lid a r ity u n d e r W o o r i T h e o lo g i­
c a l In s titu te , a la y -le d c o o p e r a tiv e in S e o u l.]
clearly said in a separate meeting that
its financial aid, 1 billion yen, is not to
be interpreted as legal compensation.
So we can’t accept it either,” she added.
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The secretary general for Korea’s
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Religious, Br. Joseph Seok Il-oung, also
expressed disappointment.
S J rT O r
The deal “is more like a collusion be­
tween two interest groups, not a nor­
mal meeting between countries,” he
said. “The meeting did not reflect the
victims’ opinion at all. What they have
demanded is not money But Japan has
ceaselessly tried to end it with a sim­
ple compensation without bearing le­
gal responsibilities.”
Seok told NCR that the Korean gov­
ernment ignored its own people’s de­
sires by agreeing to the deal. “I don’t
know what the government wanted to
obtain” through this deal, he said.
The Korean Council for the Women
Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by
Japan issued a statement Dec. 29 that
said, “Although the Japanese govern­
ment announced that it ‘feels [its] re­ Sometime in the last 50 years,
sponsibilities,’ the statement lacks the you became part of the National
acknowledgment of the fact that the Catholic Reporter community. You
colonial government and its military may not remember exactly when
had committed a systematic crime. you began reading NCR, but you
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