Comfort women blast Foreign Ministry

Two former “comfort women” visited Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan Wednesday and criticized the government’s inability to resolve the unsettled issues pertaining to women forced into sex slavery by Japan during World War II.

“As I see you in person, my emotions are suddenly overwhelming. What has the Foreign Ministry done for the past 20 years?” 83-year-old Lee Yong-su asked Kim at the ministry in Seoul.

“Is the Foreign Ministry owned by Japan or Korea? Do you feel thrilled to see elderly women dying one-by-one (as they age),” she said with a strong and emotional voice. She was accompanied by 83-year-old Kang Il-chul.

In response, Kim apologized to Lee, but said the ministry has put in a lot of effort to resolve the thorny issue with Japan.

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan (right) meets with victims of Japan’s military sex slavery during World War II at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap News)

“I understand that you cannot be satisfied with the ministry’s efforts,” Kim said, adding that it is “impossible” for the ministry to feel thrilled about the elderly women dying.

The meeting between the former comfort women and the foreign minister was initially planned for December in line with the 1,000th Wednesday Protest but was delayed until later.

The issue of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women has remained unsettled since the end of World War II. At that time, Korea was a Japanese colony.

While former Korean comfort women and the government have demanded that Tokyo apologize and offer due compensation to the victims, Tokyo has kept its stance that its legal liability for the wrongdoing was cleared by a bilateral claims treaty signed in 1965 between Korea and Japan.

To untangle the issue, President Lee Myung-bak urged Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to put top priority on the comfort women issue during his visit to Tokyo in December.

However, Noda instead demanded that Korea remove the “Peace Monument,” a statue installed by civic groups in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to remember the comfort women and protest the unresolved issue.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldm.com)