UNESCO listing of comfort women documents postponed

UNESCO has delayed its review of multinational civic groups’ request to register documents related to Japan’s wartime sexual slavery of women on the “Memory of the World Register,” the South Korean culture ministry said Tuesday.

In May 2016, 15 civic groups from eight countries, including South Korea and China, made an official request for the UNESCO listing of documents related to women, mostly Koreans, forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II. The victims are euphemistically called “comfort women.”

They include around 2,700 kinds of documents, including court records and materials given by victims.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNESCO made the decision in Paris early this week.

The documents are considered indispensable first-hand research material in the field of comfort women studies, but their listing has apparently failed to overcome a diplomatic campaign by Japan to prevent their nomination.

UNESCO, however, recommended the nomination of “Joseon Tongsinsa,” which consists of old diplomatic records of Korean envoys to Japan, a royal seal and an investiture book collection of the Joseon Kingdom.