South Koreans Divided Over Japan's Legal Liability On Wartime Sexual Slavery Issue

by Jean Marie Abellana / Jan 06, 2016 12:27 PM EST

Some South Koreans do not approve of the agreement between South Korea and Japan on the comfort women issue. (Photo by Chung Sung Jun/Getty Images)

The controversial "comfort women" issue or the sexual enslavement of young girls and women by the Imperial Japanese Army during the second World War has received various reactions and commentaries from the general public in South Korea.

A recent survey result released by the JoongAng Ilbo, one of South Korea's biggest daily newspaper publisher, shows that many South Koreans are divided when it comes to their opinion of how the Japanese government addressed the issue on comfort women. The survey indicates that 47.6 percent of the respondents support South Korea's acceptance of Japan's commitment to the Dec. 28 landmark, in which the latter acknowledged its legal responsibility towards the victims of wartime sexual slavery, while the other 47.9 percent disagreed.

The survey was conducted on Dec. 29 to Dec. 30 and was participated by 1,000 respondents aged 19 years old above.

ABC News noted on Dec. 28 that the landmark settlement carried a "final and irreversible resolution" for the issue. Under the bilateral pact, Japan has apologized to South Korea and promised to provide an $8.3 million fund to support the victims and their families.

The atrocities inflicted on comfort women during World War II had become the most painful legacy of Japan's colonial rule in the country, which took place from 1910 until 1945.

However, the agreement also drew criticism from 58.2 percent of the respondents who do not agree that the pact had settled the issue with finality. Only 35.6 percent expressed contentment with the deal.

Moreover, 76.6 percent of the respondents said they were not convinced that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was sincere and genuine with the apology he extended to the Korean community.

One of the comfort women, 88-year-old Lee Yong Soo, said the agreement deserved to be ignored because it "does not reflect the views of former comfort women."

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery in Japan referred to the deal as a "humiliating diplomacy" and "is nothing but a diplomatic collusion that thoroughly betrayed the wishes of comfort women and the South Korean people."