[Photo by Namkung Jin-woong = timeid@ajunews.com]
South Korea and Japan reached a breakthrough agreement on Monday on the thorny issue of so-called ‘comfort women’, forced to work in Japanese brothels during the World War II
After a 70-miniute meeting between foreign ministers of the two countries in Seoul, the two sides said they agreed to move on from the past for improved ties after resolving the key historical issue that has long plagued ties between the two neighbors.
Japan's foreign minister Fumio Kishida said the Japanese government will take “deep responsibility” for the ‘comfort women’ issue and offered a one billion yen for a fund to help former comfort women.
South Korean foreign minister Yun Byung-Se said the Seoul government will confirm the comfort women issue as “finally resolved” and crease criticism over the issue when Japan carries through steps as pledged.
The South Korean government will also review the relocation of a statue symbolizing the comfort women at the request of Tokyo. The statue currently stands in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul
Up to 200,000 women are estimated to have been sexually enslaved by Japan during the war, many of them Korean.
While South Korea and other countries demanded an apology and compensation, one of the main debates in Japan has been whether they should be called sex slaves and if they were forced to work as prostitutes.
Helping to set the stage for Kishida's visit, a South Korean court last week cleared a Japanese journalist of defaming Park. On Wednesday, its Constitutional Court also refused to review a complaint over the 1965 treaty.
By Alex Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
