According to Historians, thousands of women were used as sex slaves by the Japanese troops during the war. At the meeting, Mr. Lee told Mr. Noda that the time was running out to resolve the issue during the victim‘s lifetimes. Only 63 of the women that were used as “comfort women” remain alive and their average age is 86.
“I think we need to have the courage of resolving, as a priority, the issue of comfort women, which has been a stumbling block in relations,” Mr. Lee told Mr. Noda, according to a South Korean government statement.
Mr. Noda responded by saying that the 1965 treaty ended all claims for compensations related to war. But he did say Japan was willing to make efforts “from a humanitarian standpoint.”
Many South Koreans say that the treaty does not apply to the women because the issue had not yet come to light when it was signed, but in the 1990s, when some of the aging former victims began to speak out.
(아주경제 송지영 기자)
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