What is the comfort women issue?

The South Korean government and former comfort women, among others, have demanded an apology and compensation from the Japanese government over the use of the women to provide sexual services for officers and soldiers of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. A series of related matters are known as the comfort women issue.

The Japanese government’s investigation, however, found no evidence to substantiate the allegation that such women were forcibly and systematically taken away by the former Imperial Army and police authorities.

The widespread belief that comfort women were forcibly taken comes after a man named Seiji Yoshida, now deceased, made statements that he had engaged in the forcible taking away of women. But his statement later turned out to be false.

The Japanese government’s position is that the issue has been legally resolved under the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between Japan and South Korea.

Meanwhile, Japan has provided cash grants to former comfort women through the Asian Women’s Fund established by the Japanese government in 1995, and through a foundation that was set up based on a deal reached between the two countries at the end of 2015 over the comfort women issue. Past prime ministers have also apologized over this issue.

In the 2015 Japan-South Korea agreement, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed “sincere apologies and remorse” over the comfort women issue, and both sides confirmed the issues were “resolved finally and irreversibly.”

But the South Korean administration of Moon Jae-in, who came into power after the agreement was reached, has effectively reneged on the agreement. (Jan. 10)