How will South Korea's next president respond to the comfort women issue?

As the election campaign for the presidential election to be held on June 3rd in South Korea is in full swing, a civic group supporting former comfort women, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, announced on January 1st that it had established a joint venture with the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery.
On the 4th, the Korean Council called on the new government that will be inaugurated after the election to proactively tackle the comfort women issue. The Korean Council said it was calling for the investigation of responsibility for the comfort women issue and the restoration of the honor and human rights of former comfort women.
For many years, they have been holding regular "Wednesday rallies" near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. The rally marked its 1,700th anniversary on the 14th. The first rally was held in 1992, when then Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa visited Korea.
It began when the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery, the predecessor of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery, held a demonstration in front of the Japanese Embassy. Members gathered every Wednesday to voice their protests against the Japanese government over the comfort women issue.
Regarding the comfort women issue, in December 2015, then Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (former Prime Minister) and then South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se signed the Japan-Korea Comfort Women Agreement.
The agreement states that the comfort women issue is "resolved finally and irreversibly." The Japanese government will donate $10,000 to the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, which the South Korean government will set up to support former comfort women.
The two countries agreed to cooperate and contributed 1 billion yen to the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, which provides support to former comfort women, in 2016.
The Japanese government's position is that the comfort women issue has been resolved with this agreement. However, Moon Jae-in, who pledged to nullify the agreement, was inaugurated as president in May 2017.
In November 2018, the South Korean government announced its decision to dissolve the foundation, effectively nullifying the Japan-South Korea agreement. In May 2022, Yoon Seok-yeol, who had been keen to improve Japan-South Korea relations, was elected president.
When Yoon took office, attention was focused on whether there would be any developments on the comfort women issue. However, Yoon first tackled the biggest issue between Japan and South Korea, the former forced labor lawsuit issue, and announced a solution in March 2011.
This was a turning point for Japan-Korea relations, which had been at their worst since the war, and they improved dramatically. However, there was no significant movement on the comfort women issue, and Yoon, who has been working hard to improve Japan-Korea relations,
Yoon was impeached for declaring "emergency martial law" in the country in December last year, and last month the Constitutional Court ruled that Yoon's impeachment was appropriate, and he was removed from office.
The next presidential election will be held in Tokyo on November 14th. The issue of comfort women will be left to the next administration. On November 14th, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan appealed to the new leader to be chosen after the presidential election to take an active role in resolving the comfort women issue.
Lee Yong-soo, a former comfort woman who has been raising the issue for many years, participated in the Wednesday rally held on the same day. She said that although the plaintiffs, former comfort women, had won their lawsuits seeking compensation from the Japanese government,
Despite this, the Japanese side has not responded and the Korean government has also ignored them, they said. Last month, the central Cheongju District Court accepted the claims of the surviving family members of former comfort women.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Japanese government in 2013 that the issue of comfort women should be paid in compensation. This is the third such case to have been ordered to pay compensation. However, as mentioned above, the Japanese government has not yet decided on the issue.
Following the ruling by the Cheongju District Court, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya issued a statement, stating that the issue was resolved by the 2015 Japan-Korea agreement. "The ruling is clearly in violation of international law and the agreement between Japan and Korea.
"This is extremely regrettable and completely unacceptable," it said. It then called on South Korea to "take appropriate measures immediately and on its own responsibility as a nation to rectify this violation of international law."
"We strongly urge you to take this decision once again." Meanwhile, the district court announced today, the 15th, that its April ruling was finalized on the same day. With the presidential election coming up, attention is focused on how the new president will handle the comfort women issue.
However, Lee Jae-myung, who is leading the approval ratings in various opinion polls as the person most suitable to be the next president, held a memorial service on the 12th for Lee Ok-sun, a former comfort woman who passed away the day before.
In a message posted on social media, Lee said he would "make further efforts to clarify historical facts, restore honor, and provide support to the victims" regarding the comfort women issue.
Prior to this, on the 9th, Lee delivered a congratulatory speech at a debate on the topic of Japan-Korea relations, and expressed his intention to maintain cooperation with the two countries, following the example of the previous administration, which placed importance on Japan-Korea relations.
Regarding historical issues, he emphasized that "these issues must be resolved in order to build a future-oriented relationship."