South Korea and Japan plan to hold talks on Tokyo’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II early next week, a major stumbling block to the improvement of bilateral ties, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.
Lee Sang-deok, Seoul’s chief delegate to the talks, will meet with his Japanese counterpart Junichi Ihara on Monday in Seoul in their seventh round of talks to discuss the issue of the so-called “comfort women”, according to the foreign ministry.
In April last year, the two historical rivals launched the talks on the sex slavery, but no major progress has been made as Japan has been reluctant to sincerely apologize for the issue.
The planned meeting comes as the two countries are seeking to improve strained ties as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of their bilateral relations. The year also marks the 70th anniversary of Seoul’s liberation from Tokyo’s colonial rule in 1945.
Seoul-Tokyo ties have plunged to lowest levels in recent years mainly due to the sex slavery issue. Historians estimate the number of sex slaves at about 200,000 with only 53 South Korean victims alive today.
Japan angered Seoul and Beijing, victims of Tokyo’s wartime aggression, in June by saying that its 1993 apology over the sex slavery issue, named the Kono Statement, was the outcome of a political compromise between Seoul and Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will express remorse over Japan’s role in the war in his fresh statement that will come out in August to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat of World War II.
But many analysts predict that the premier will not apologize for the sex slavery issue and may water down the spirit of Japan’s 1995 apology for Japan’s colonial rule, named the Murayama Statement.
Since taking office in early 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has shunned a summit with Abe as a show of anger against Tokyo’s refusal to atone for its historical wrongdoings. (Yonhap)
