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Former Korean 'comfort women' ask Seoul to press Tokyo to settle issue

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Former Korean "comfort women," the euphemistic term for wartime sex slaves, met South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul on Wednesday and urged him to press Japan to settle the issue of compensation.

Yonhap reported that the South Korean government officially sent a request to its Japanese counterpart to hold talks to settle the issue.

Hundreds of thousands of Asian women, including Koreans, were forcibly drafted for sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during the war. The women have been demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government for decades.

Shinsuke Sugiyama, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, said that Japan has no plans to reopen talks with Seoul. He said the Japanese government's consistent position is that the issue of compensation was fully and completely resolved under the normalization treaty.

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Comfort women issue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0goL88N8pQE

Comfort women issue...The so-called "comfort women" refer to women who worked as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Needless to say, army life is full of lively men. They cannot dowithout women. So private brothels which provided sexual services to soldiers were needed by the army. Each Soldier paid money to private brothels or comfort women and got sexual services. Most of comfort women worked as prostitutes. The so-called "comfort women" were no different than prostitutes. However, since the early 1990s in South Korea, self-confessed ex-comfort women, who claimed that they were forced into prostitution against their will, have begun to appear one after another. There are many testimonies by self-confessed ex-comfort women. But no matter how hard the mass media looked for the proof, they couldn't find anything. Instead, they found newspaper ads for comfort women. That is to say, there is not a single thread of evidence to prove that the Japanese military forced women to work as prostitutes. The video that I'm about to show you is a recorded image showing Komori Yoshihisa of Japan's Sankei Shinbun newspaper being interviewed on the comfort women issue for the PBS series Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria On March 29, 2007. This was just when US Congressman Mike Honda's Resolution 121, which calls on the Japanese government to apologize for having forced young women to become sex slaves during World War II, was discussed in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

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@Pizzaface

If I had the option, I would beat the teeth out of the evil old men behind it, and I would not discriminate by nationality.

I'm glad to hear that because South Korean military's comfort stations were established not only for Korean soldiers but for UN soldiers. So you'll have to beat the teeth out of many old people around the globe. I wish you a good luck :)

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They were conscripted into having sex with the Japanese soldiers. That makes them conscript workers. If Tokyo had been allowed to make the individual payments themselves, they probably would have included the sex slaves in their payments, but Seoul forbid it, instead taking a lump-sum payment that they then misused. Are you saying "comfort women" didn't tell ANYONE what the Japanese made them do until after the details of the Normalization Treaty were worked-out in 1965 - TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER?!? I don't believe that for ONE MINUTE. If they were left out of the agreement, it's because Seoul intentionally left them out of the agreement. Again, the apology that is owed them needs to come from SEOUL. Tokyo issued their apology in 1965 with Seoul's blessing.

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@oginome

It's simple, the atrocities suffered by the comfort women were not recognised as part of Japan's brutality in the 1960s Treaty.

Ironically South Korean military, during the Korean War, established comfort stations some time around 1951 according to Korean researcher 金貴玉 (Kim gi-ok ?) However this brutality by South Korean military/government is yet to be recognized by their own people. Maybe it's about time to shed light on these women who are being ignored by their own government.

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"Sex slaves" are workforce conscripts. South Korea received Japan's compensation for them already and spent it on other things. Japan must of had an inkling this would happen, but when they offered to pay out to the conscripts directly

The comfort women were not considered part of these workforce conscripts. Their issue on;y came to light in the later decades.

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Guess I should cite the source (Mods please add it to my post immediately above if you can): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Basic_Relations_between_Japan_and_the_Republic_of_Korea

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From Wiki re: Compensation as part of the Normalization Treaty:

The documents also recorded that the Korean government demanded a total of 364 million dollars in compensation for the 1.03 million Koreans conscripted into the workforce and the military during the colonial period,[6] at a rate of 200 dollars per survivor, 1,650 dollars per death and 2,000 dollars per injured person.

"Sex slaves" are workforce conscripts. South Korea received Japan's compensation for them already and spent it on other things. Japan must of had an inkling this would happen, but when they offered to pay out to the conscripts directly:

The documents also reveal that the South Korean government claimed that it would handle individual compensation to its citizens who suffered during Japan's colonial rule while rejecting Japan's proposal to directly compensate individual victims and receiving the whole amount of grants on the behalf of victims.

These victims of Japan's aggression need to be pestering SEOUL for an apology, not Japan.

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It isn't a fact - the agreements are very vague. Nothing unusual there though when dealing with Japan and the government.

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Thinks you. Not everyone agrees with you.

It's a fact, not an opinion. The issue of the comfort women didn't come into light until decades later.

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Thinks you. Not everyone agrees with you.

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How were they not part of the settlement? The Korean government took the money to pretty much "get over" all the horrific things Japan did to them during the war. The way I see it, this covers them. By all means, feel free to pat yourself but I will certainly not agree to my tax money being used to pay them - and neither will the majority of Japanese.

It's simple, the atrocities suffered by the comfort women were not recognised as part of Japan's brutality in the 1960s Treaty.

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Again?****

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How were they not part of the settlement? The Korean government took the money to pretty much "get over" all the horrific things Japan did to them during the war. The way I see it, this covers them. By all means, feel free to pat yourself but I will certainly not agree to my tax money being used to pay them - and neither will the majority of Japanese.

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However, on the whole, the Korean government chose to use the resources for national prosperity over compensation to private citizens.CASE CLOSED!!!

So, Tatanka, if a woman gets raped and sues her assailant in civil court, you would be cool with the government taking the money she was to be awarded to build some street lights somewhere and also ensuring that she never learns the result of the case for 50 years? That is basically what is going on here.

But the comfort women issue was never part of the original settlement.

True. But what really mucks this up is that the Korean government agreed that Korean citizens would be barred from seeking any compensation in that agreement. And those citizens could not even fight that ridiculousness because they did not know it existed, because it was kept secret. It is astounding what dirty, scummy, lying, evil people there are in this world. Some people say that the Japanese occupation was good for Korea, and when you here what these Koreans did to their own people, you can understand where they are coming from. But of course, Japan was also party to keeping the secret, so I would say the evil is about equal, considering Japan's past role as occupier. If I had the option, I would beat the teeth out of the evil old men behind it, and I would not discriminate by nationality.

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And why didn't pay them Ogi?

Because they weren't part of the settlement, tmarie.

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http://www.jiyuushikan.org/e/reparations.html

When Korea and Japan reached an agreement in 1965, Japan agreed to pay 180 billion yen (500 million dollars) indemnity and aid. Looking from Korea's point of view, this amount was 1.45 times Korea's national budget, and 3.8 times its foreign reserves. Most of this money was used by the Korean government for the nation's modernization. Korea says that it contributed to 20 per cent of its economic growth between 1966 and 1975, and 8 per cent annually to cover its trade deficit. From 1975, Korea also started compensations to individual citizens for personal losses during the war. However, on the whole, the Korean government chose to use the resources for national prosperity over compensation to private citizens.

CASE CLOSED!!!

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And why didn't pay them Ogi?

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Perhaps she needs to press the Korean government to share the money the Japanese government gave them to settle the issue?

But the comfort women issue was never part of the original settlement.

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Shameless!

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What a nerve!

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Not this again....

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Perhaps she needs to press the Korean government to share the money the Japanese government gave them to settle the issue?

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Former Korean “comfort women,” the euphemistic term for wartime sex slaves, met South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul on Wednesday and urged him to press Japan to settle the issue of compensation.

Again.

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