An accord reached between Japan and South Korea will purportedly bring an end to a lengthy dispute between both countries over the former's culpability and accountability for the "comfort women" issue, but looming sticking points remain.
As part of a deal to see Japan take accountability for its part in the "comfort women" issue, a euphemism used for women Japan's Imperial Army forcibly coerced and conscripted to work in military brothels as sex slaves to serve Japanese soldiers, Japan agreed to pay 1 billion yen (8.3 million U.S. dollars) from its national budget to create a new foundation to support the former "comfort women," to be set up in South Korea.
In addition, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, by way of his foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, renewed his apology, expressing his apologies and remorse to all those who suffered immeasurable and incurable physical and mental wounds as "comfort women." Kishida said the current government recognizes its responsibility over the issue and the "grave affront to the honor and dignity of large numbers of women," caused by the Imperial Army at the time, adding that the issue is now finally resolved. But while the two countries' governments are largely hailing the new deal as a success and one that will help bridge a long-held divide between Japan and South Korea as the former had always maintained the matter had been dealt with in a previous pact made and had gone on to probe the evidence of survivors' testimony, which had drawn the ire of South Korea, experts have highlighted some looming sticking points.
Firstly, the 8.3 million U.S. dollars offered by the Japanese government to help in "healing" the mental "wounds" has been earmarked for the 46 survivors and does little to help the dignity and ease the pain of the tens of thousands of women around Asia forced to work in brothels managed by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932 to 1945, who have already passed, or their loved ones who were also burdened with psychological anguish and trauma.
In addition, the details of the fund remain unclear, as has been highlighted by Haruki Wada, former executive director of the now-defunct Asian Women's Fund (AWF). The AWF was disbanded in 2007, but was initially set up to provide "atonement money" to the victims. The victims at the time refused to receive the compensation on grounds it was not "official" money and lacked any real gravitas when it came to the Japanese government facing its actions squarely and fully admitting its culpability in the mass kidnappings and rapes of tens of thousands of women.
"The Japanese government's acknowledgement of its responsibility over the comfort women issue is a step forward but the details of the envisioned fund are unclear," Wada was quoted as saying, whilst simultaneously suggesting that the new fund could simply be a repeat of the former one, and run the risk of being rejected again, or perceived to be Japan merely trying to "buy" its way out of trouble. Other analysts, to this end, have suggested that the payment is simply a way of Japan "putting the matter to bed" and, in essence, silencing South Korea as Japan ramps up its mission to white wash its history -- even if this means paying to have it not mentioned. Experts have raised this issue because part of the pact made between the two countries sees a clause whereby South Korea will never revive the issue of "comfort women" again and Japan is also pushing for a statue erected in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, in honor of the women, to be removed, saying it contravenes the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Japan is also actively trying to have similar statues removed in other countries, including the United States under the government's revisionist protocol.
In addition the pact also involves South Korea also refraining from defaming Japan by adding additional "comfort women"-related materials to the UNESCO's Memory of the World list. Indeed, Kishida himself said the latest pledge did not constitute compensation, maintaining Japan's view that such matters had been completely and finally settled under the 1965 agreement on the settlement of problems concerning property and claims and on economic cooperation between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Kishida drew a clear line of distinction between funds for compensation and those for an envisioned entity or foundation to help the survivors. But regardless of the semantics of the deal, or whether or not Japan is trying to pay for a clean historical sheet, as far as the "comfort women" issue is concerned, Wada, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, pointed out that there still exists the likelihood that the survivors, all in the twilight of their years, may reject the deal. "I wonder how the Japanese government will convey its expression of apology and the way the money will be provided?" Wada also quizzed.
Eriko Ikeda, director of the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace, while seeing some positives in the pact, also pointed out some gray areas when it came to an actual resolution being made and agreed upon, stating that Japan's legal responsibility still remains ambiguous. "There is no change to the position that Japan has no legal responsibility. Many of the former comfort women are saying it is not the money that is at issue. Providing money without sincere remorse will just spark protests," said Ikeda.
Analysts have also drawn attention to the possibility that Japan might be using the move to cozy up to South Korea in an attempt to consolidate its security reach in the Asia-Pacific region, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks to give Japan's military an increased international footprint, under dubious new legislation and massive new military spending announced recently. It has also not gone unnoticed that the move, something Japan has vehemently rejected doing for decades, saying the matter had already been resolved, comes as Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is looking to polish its somewhat truculent image in the wake of the steamrolling of Abe's war bills against the public' s will and remilitarizing Japan in a reversal of 70 years of pacifism, ahead of the upper house elections next summer. However, while the issue with the South Korean "comfort women" may be resolved to some degree, also at odds is how Japan plans to restore the honor and dignity of "comfort women" from other countries and regions who were similarly brutalized by Japan during the war, including numerous women from China as well as the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Netherlands and also a contingent of Australian women. And while Japan is in a reflective mood, perhaps it would also do well for it to not forget that its Imperial Army also forced many of their own Japanese women to work in their nauseating military sex camps.
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