Spotlight: Japan protests S. Korea's request for apology on "comfort women" despite flaws leading to prior deal

    Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-10 19:44:13|Editor: Jiaxin

    TOKYO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan lodged a protest with South Korea on Wednesday over President Moon Jae-in's remarks suggesting that Japan untie an "erroneous knot" over the "comfort women" issue by sincerely apologizing to the victims.

    Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, told a senior official from the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo that Moon's remarks are "unacceptable," Kyodo News here quoted a ministry source as saying Wednesday.

    Kanasugi's protest followed Moon being quoted by local media as saying during a New Year's press conference that "Japan should accept the truth, apologize with a sincere heart and take the 'comfort women' issue as a lesson and work with the international community in such a way that something similar could not occur again."

    South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha intimated a day earlier that Tokyo should do more to atone for its past wartime crimes involving "comfort women," although maintained that Seoul would not seek to renegotiate a bilateral deal on the issue made two years ago.

    Moon said on Wednesday that while it is "undeniable" that the deal is an official bilateral agreement, the "erroneous knot" with Japan over the "comfort women" issue must be untied by Tokyo apologizing to the victims.

    Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also rejected South Korea's requests for Japan to do more than it had agreed to in the 2015 deal.

    Suga said both countries have already committed to steadily implementing the deal and that both sides agreed the deal would settle the issue "finally and irreversibly."

    A day earlier, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Japan cannot accept South Korea's new policy position on a deal struck in 2015 between the two countries over the "comfort women" issue.

    The steady implementation of this agreement is both countries' duty to the international community, Kono said following South Korea announcing its policy position.

    The Japanese foreign minister said Japan would like further clarification as to what Seoul means by "matching Japan's contribution" and how it plans to use the funds.

    Seoul, while maintaining it will not seek to renegotiate the deal, said it will plan to match the 1 billion yen (8.93 million U.S. dollars) paid by the Japanese government under the deal, with South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha saying that it will decide how to use Japan's contribution.

    Under a landmark bilateral deal reached two years ago, both countries agreed that the "comfort women" issue that had led to ties between both countries becoming significantly strained, would be "finally and irreversibly" resolved.

    South Korean President Moon, who took office in May, and his administration, however, have said they are revisiting the process under which the accord was made under the previous government, noting that the pact does not reflect the will of the majority of South Korean people.

    The so-called "comfort women" issue involved soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, forcibly coercing and even kidnapping girls and women, and forcing them to work as sex slaves, servicing Japanese soldiers at military brothels during the war.

    Many of the women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese aggressors came from the Korean Peninsula as well as from other parts of Asia, including China.

    Euphemistically, these sex slaves have come to be known collectively as "comfort women."

    Statues erected to pay honor to these "comfort women" such as the one installed outside the Japanese consulate in South Korea's Busan, draw the ire of the Japanese government, the right-wing forces of which have been trying ardently to whitewash its wartime atrocities.

    Despite the possibility of ties between the two countries becoming strained once more, Suga said Tuesday that Tokyo is "not thinking of moving even a millimeter on the deal."

    The South Korean side, however, believes that prior to the deal being made with Japan, those who served as "comfort women" were not sufficiently consulted and their feelings not fully taken into account.

    "A sincere apology from Japan to the surviving 'comfort women' and for those who have already passed, would go along way towards restoring the women's honor and dignity and restoring political and social ties between both countries," a representative of a Japan-based think tank said on Wednesday.

    TOP STORIES
    EDITOR’S CHOICE
    MOST VIEWED
    EXPLORE XINHUANET
    010020070750000000000000011100001368856491
    主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久久国产99久久国产久| 免费永久在线观看黄网站| AAA级久久久精品无码片| 日本福利视频导航| 亚洲精品日韩专区silk | 日本精品啪啪一区二区三区| 亚洲熟妇色xxxxx欧美老妇| 美女黄色一级毛片| 日本片免费观看一区二区| 亚洲综合激情另类小说区| 色噜噜狠狠狠综合曰曰曰| 国产精品国产三级国快看| yellow字幕网在线91pom国产| 日韩国产一区二区| 亚洲欧美一区二区三区| 精品国产一区二区三区不卡| 国产在线观看网站萌白酱视频| 91成人在线免费视频| 少妇高潮无套内谢| 久久人人爽人人爽人人片AV超碰 | 中国大陆高清aⅴ毛片| 最新中文字幕一区二区乱码| 亚洲码欧美码一区二区三区| 精品国产三级在线观看| 国产乱理伦片在线观看| 欧美亚洲国产第一页草草 | 亚洲国产精品一区二区久| 男人肌肌插女人肌肌| 国产av人人夜夜澡人人爽| 国产精品亚洲精品青青青| 国产精品边做奶水狂喷小说| www..99557c..com| 成在人线av无码免费高潮水| 久久精品国产这里是免费| 欧美另类第一页| 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久下载| 精品一区二区三区在线视频| 国产一区二区三区在线免费| 国产免费插插插| 国产精品无码专区| 99久久人人爽亚洲精品美女|