'Comfort women' row with Japan unresolved despite 2015 deal: South Korea

SEOUL (REUTERS, AFP, BLOOMBERG) - A 2015 deal with Japan over South Korean "comfort women" forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels failed to meet the victims' needs, South Korea said on Wednesday (Dec 27) throwing ties into doubt as both countries seek to rein in North Korea.

Seoul and Tokyo signed the agreement to settle the hugely emotional and decades-long issue with a Japanese apology and payment of money to survivors.

Following an election pledge, the new government of President Moon Jae In ordered a review of the unpopular deal which was struck by his now-jailed predecessor Park Geun Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

On Wednesday, a task force published a report saying the deal was rushed and did not adequately seek out the opinions of the comfort women, a Japanese euphemism for the women who were forced to work as sex slaves. "The agreement was finalised ... without adequately taking into account the opinions of victims in the process of negotiation," the report said.

At a news conference, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha apologised for the deal, saying the agreement "failed to sufficiently reflect a victim-oriented approach, which is the universal standard in resolving human rights issues".

It added that the issue could not be "fundamentally resolved" because the victims' demand for Japan's legal compensation had not been met. Tokyo says the matter of compensation for the women was settled under a 1965 treaty with Seoul.

Japan reacted angrily to the panel's report. "If the South Korean government tries to change an agreement that is already being put into practice based on this report, relations between Japan and South Korea will become unmanageable," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in a statement.

"If the South Korean government ... tried to revise the agreement that is already being implemented, that would make Japan's ties with South Korea unmanageable and it would be unacceptable."

Under the deal, Japan apologised to the former comfort women and provided 1 billion yen (S$11.8 million) to a fund to help them. The two governments also agreed the issue would be "irreversibly resolved" if both fulfilled their obligations.

The task force did not provide policy recommendations but advised the government to seek longer-term solutions to historical matters like the comfort women issue.

"It is hard to resolve such a historical problem as the comfort women issue through short-term diplomatic negotiations or political compromise. There should be longer-term efforts for the spread of values, awareness and education for future generations."

Its findings will be presented to the government, which will finalise its stance on the matter, with no detailed timetable yet disclosed, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea and Japan are key to international efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes that it pursues in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The comfort women issue has been a regular cause for contention between Japan and neighbours China and North and South Korea since the war.

Japan colonised the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945 and occupied parts of China before and during World War II.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said earlier that any attempt to revise the 2015 agreement would be unacceptable and make relations unmanageable.

"The Japan-South Korea agreement is an agreement between the two governments and one that has been highly appreciated by international society," Kono said in a written statement.

Kang said Seoul would "take into account any impact on South Korea-Japan ties as it carefully establishes its position" following the report's release.

But she stopped short of saying whether Seoul might consider calling for renegotiation or walking away from the deal.

Tokyo urged Seoul to stick with the 2015 agreement. "Japan's position remains unchanged, that we ask the South Korean government to abide by the deal," a Japanese foreign ministry official told AFP.

According to Japan's Nikkei Asian Review, Abe has not responded to Seoul's invitation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to be held in February 2018, a decision which is likely to be influenced by the taskforce's findings.

Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from South Korea but also other parts of Asia including China, were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II.

Survivors and their supporters call for a direct and explicit apology from the Japanese government for the wartime abuses.

The Japanese government denies it is directly responsible for the abuses, insisting that "comfort women" were recruited by civilians and that the military brothels were commercially operated.

Despite the agreement, ties between the two neighbours remain tense over statues which South Korean activists positioned outside Japanese diplomatic missions in memory of the victims.