This page was updated on January 6, 2017. Please note that the content may not be up-to-date.

Comfort Women Issue

会話

What is a comfort women?

During wartime, the facility called "comfort station" made by the Japanese army, refers to a woman who was forced to be sexual opponent of a Japanese soldier.

The number of people made to comfort women is unknown, but it was collected not only from Japan but also from the then Korean Peninsula, Manchuria County etc.

Number of comfort women

One thing that is the focus of discussion now is the number of comfort women. As I mentioned earlier, the actual number of people is unknown and there is no choice but to guess.
The Japanese side estimates that it was estimated to be more than 20,000 people, but the Korean side presumes there were more people.

History of comfort women issue

慰安婦問題歴史表

Kono discourse
About the discourse of the then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono when the Japanese government officially recognized and apologized for the involvement of the former Japanese army on the comfort women during the Second World War.

Asian Women's Fund
The Asian Women's Fund is a foundation founded by government decisions (letter of apology by the Prime Minister and payment of compensation for prime minister) for the purpose of solving the comfort women problem and compensation for victim women, all remuneration money in 2007 Because the project has ended, it is now disbanded.

Statue of comfort women
The statue of a comfort women was established by Korean organizations to request an apology from Japan and is set up in front of the Japanese embassy in Korea. Although the Japanese government apologizes in the past and declares that it is not necessary to make an additional apology, we protest against the fact that the statue of a comfort woman is set up, but the statue is still set up.
慰安婦
By Sakaori (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], Japanese Embassy in Seoul and watched from behind a bronze statue of comfort women.JPG, via Wikimedia Commons

Japanese side

The Japanese government has announced the findings of the comfort women issue. In addition, the government has said that he has expressed apologies and repentance to former comfort women. However, Prime Minister Abe commented that he did not think about "letter of apology" to former comfort women, one of the demands of the Korean side.

Korean side

"The testimony of former comfort women" that the Korean side places most emphasis on comfort women issue. And, what the Korean side (especially the former comfort women) is seeking in Japan is reparation and apology in large part. However, within the government of the Republic of Korea, the opposition party has invalidated the Japan - South Korea agreement in 2015 and requested the government to renegotiate in its entirety.

Current situation of comfort women issue

Because "the number of comfort women" is still unknown, both countries insist on the number of people as assumed. As a result, conflicts often arise.

Also, as Japan says "Korea's letter of apology" is "I'm not thinking" The road to solving comfort women issue seems to be long.

会話

Takeshima Dispute Top South Korea-North Korea relations