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The Kono Statement was announced under the name of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono of the then Kiichi Miyazawa Cabinet. In his statement, he acknowledged that the former Japanese military was involved in the establishment and management of comfort stations and the transfer of comfort women, and expressed his "apology and remorse." The Japanese government's apology for acknowledging the former Japanese military's involvement in the comfort women issue was highly praised in South Korea at the time. Subsequent administrations have taken the position that the statement was "inherited as a whole."
On the other hand, there is a deep-rooted concern in Japan that the statement will be interpreted as forcible recruitment by the former Japanese military, which has no objective grounds. In fact, South Korea interprets this statement as "the Japanese government admitted the forced recruitment of comfort women by the former Japanese military".
In April 2021, the Japanese government issued a Cabinet decision stating that "the expression 'comfort women' is misleading," and that "it is appropriate to simply use the term 'comfort women.'" At that time, the Cabinet decision was made in response to questions from Nobuyuki Baba, a member of the House of Representatives (current representative) of the Japan Restoration Party. Regarding the term "comfort women" in the questionnaire, Ms. Baba said, "The image of being forcibly taken away by the military has become ingrained." I think it is inappropriate to use the expression 'comfort women'."
Regarding the expression of comfort women, the Kono statement used the expression "so-called military comfort women."
The statement explained that at the time the Kono Statement was issued, the expression "comfort women" was "widely used in society at large." In 2014, the Asahi Shimbun admitted that an article based on false testimony that the comfort women had been forcibly recruited was wrong. .
In response, the South Korean side expressed its regret at the time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) said, "The forced mobilization, recruitment, and transfer of comfort women to the Japanese military is a historical fact that cannot be denied," and added, I would like to reiterate the need to maintain an unshakable historical recognition, refrain from attempts to overturn it, refrain from words and deeds that go against it, and show our sincerity in resolving historical issues."
Mr. Matsuno, who used the term 'comfort women issue' at the press conference on the 3rd, in line with the 2021 answer, said, "The purpose of the statement is to keep the issue in mind for a long time. It wasn't intended for specific research or education, but it was an expression of my determination to keep the comfort women issue in my memory for a long time and not to repeat it."
On December 28th, 2015, Japan and South Korea signed a comfort women agreement confirming the resolution of the comfort women issue between Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Minister of Foreign Affairs (at that time) Yoon Byung-se of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The agreement confirmed that the comfort women issue was "finally and irreversibly resolved." However, the former administration of Moon Jae-in in South Korea is effectively a blank slate. More than seven and a half years passed without a resolution. From last year to this year, significant progress has been made on the issue of former forced laborers, a pending issue between Japan and South Korea, with South Korea presenting a solution.
In June of this year, in a lawsuit filed by a South Korean lawyer asking the South Korean foreign minister to disclose some of the records of the negotiations on the comfort women agreement, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that it was appropriate to keep the documents private. The judgment was justified and the appeal was dismissed. The lawyers had requested disclosure of the content of Japan-Korea talks on the "forced recruitment" of comfort women, but the plaintiffs reversed the plan, saying, "Disclosure would damage the relationship of trust with Japan and weaken the government's diplomatic negotiating power." The judgment of the second instance, which ruled against the case, was finalized. According to Yonhap News, a Supreme Court official said, "The agreement on comfort women victims was the result of negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese government." We considered the judgment of the second trial to be justified, as it was deemed to be greater than the benefit to be gained from disclosing it."
As can be seen from this lawsuit, the South Korean side is still trying to investigate the possibility that comfort women were forcibly recruited by the former Japanese military.
2023/08/07 13:23 KST
