A group of South Korea’s former so-called “comfort women” – sexual slaves who were forced to serve the Japanese army during World War II – are suing the Korean government after the country reached a controversial $9.7 million deal with Japan to settle the issue through monetary compensation.
Twelve women are asking the South Korean government, which they say has failed to hold Japan legally responsible by making the deal, for $90,000 each.
The Korea Times reported Wednesday that Japan has transferred the money to a Korean foundation for the women.
Though Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced last week that surviving former comfort women – 46 of whom are still alive – would each receive $90,000 from a foundation funded by the Japanese government, and families of the deceased $18,000 each, the women have said they will reject compensation from the foundation.
The women have opposed the deal since South Korea and Japan came to an agreement in December. The “final and irreversible” agreement to resolve the decades-standing comfort women issue, they have argued, denies them a formal and sincere apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and offers far too little.
As many as 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and Southeast Asia were taken by the Japanese army as sexual slaves. South Korea had long called for compensation and apology from Japan, which refused to officially address the issue.
During the agreement last year, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida acknowledged in a statement that the issue of comfort women had “an involvement of the Japanese military authorities” and that the Japanese government is “painfully aware of responsibilities from this perspective.”
The issue of the comfort women has also stirred heated discussion stateside, particularly after the installation of a memorial statue in Glendale, California, in 2013.
