South Korea Reiterates Call On Japan Not To Tarnish Agreement On ‘Comfort Women’ Amid Domestic Opposition

by Diana Tomale / Jan 08, 2016 08:28 AM EST

A statue of a girl, which represents comfort women, sits outside a Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung Jun / Getty Images)

South Korea once again called on Japan not to tarnish their Dec. 28 agreement on the issue of comfort women in the midst of opposition from locals who said the deal between the two countries was "humiliating."

Yonhap News Agency reported Monday that South Korea asked Japan to avoid in making remarks or taking measures that could break the position of their pact over the long-standing issue of comfort women, a term coined to identify South Korean women who were forced into sex enslavement by the Japanese military during World War II.

The rejoinder came after Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly said that Japan has not changed its view that the comfort women statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul should be relocated first before the country shells out $8.3 million (1 billion yen) in compensation to those who suffered sex slavery during the war.

"Japan should show a sincere attitude in carrying out the deal in a way to restore the victims' dignity and heal their pain," said a ministry official who refused to be named.

He added, "The statue was set up by civic groups, so the government does not have any authority to order the relocation of the statue."

In connection to this, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery in Japan said Japan's condition to move the statue is "shameful and disappointing."

"The Peace Monument cannot be a condition or means for any agreement," the group said in a dispatch. "It is a public property and a historic symbol representing the peaceful spirit of the Wednesday Demonstrations, which has been continued by the survivors and the citizens for over a thousand Wednesdays."

The group continued, "The Korean government cannot mention anything about the removal or moving of the monument. While the survivors and the civil society cannot accept the agreement, the governments cannot push their own agenda. Such an act of arrogation only adds to the pain of the victims even more."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 28 that South Korean President Park Geun Hye spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the phone after the deal was reached. The former reportedly told the Japanese leader that she hopes the recent agreement would turn into "a precious opportunity to restore the honor and dignity of the victims" and "build trust to bring in a new relationship" between South Korean and Japan.