SK, Japan Hold Meeting to Review Measures for the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation
South Korea and Japan will hold a meeting today to talk about the continuing measures in connection to the foundation launched to aid Korean women who were sexually abused by Japanese citizens during its colonial rule of the country several decades ago.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the meeting between Chung Byung Won, the Director General of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau, and his Japanese counterpart, Kenji Kanasugi, will take place in Seoul.
Yonhap News reported that Japan committed to providing 1 billion yen (US $9.8 million) to the "Reconciliation and Healing" foundation. The establishment of the foundation commenced after a deal was reached in December, and intends to help the victims, who are also known as 'comfort women.'
In a press release, the ministry stated, "Both sides will discuss follow-up measures to the December comfort women deal and other issues of mutual concern."
The agenda includes a discussion on when the 1 billion yen that Japan assured to donate will be given and how it would be utilized.
However, the meeting is met with suspicions and controversy doubting the involvement of Japan in the foundation's work and whether the fund was promised in order for the Seoul government to cooperate with removing the statue of a woman located in front of the Japanese Embassy. The said statue signifies the agony of Korean comfort women.
Initially, the government said that the foundation's funds will be used to help ''heal the scars of the victims'' and that the Seoul government cannot do anything to order the removal of the statue because it was set up by a civic group.
The deal on building the foundation was praised by the international community and considered it a way to promote a better diplomatic relationship between the two countries.
There are approximately 200,000 women, most of them from Korea, who were compelled to work in front-line brothels for the Japanese troops during World War II.
