THE bronze statue of a teenage “comfort woman” in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is intended as a daily rebuke to the Japanese embassy opposite. The figure represents one of many thousands of Korean women who were forced to serve in wartime military brothels catering to imperial Japanese soldiers. Citizens’ groups paid for the figure to be erected in 2011 when relations between Japan and South Korea were at a nadir. Well-wishers bring her flowers, shoes and, in stormy weather, even a hat and raincoat. Yet now the statue is meant to move elsewhere as part of a landmark agreement struck between South Korea and Japan on December 28th to try to settle their dispute over comfort women once and for all—and transform dangerously strained relations.
Of former sex slaves who have come forward in South Korea, only 46 survive. Under the deal, South Korea will set up a fund for them into which the Japanese government will pay $8.3m for their medical and nursing care. The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has expressed “sincere apologies and remorse” for the women’s suffering, which was appalling. Many comfort women were raped dozens of times a...Continue reading
from Asia http://ift.tt/1R5Wgrt
EmoticonEmoticon