U.N. chief praises S Korea, Japan for settling 'comfort women' row

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this agreement, or the historical accuracy of the sex slave issue, we wouldn't want someone close to Abe, say another cabinet minister or his wife, now doing something stupid to stick a big, fat finger up Korea's nose, would we? Steady on boys and girls. Keep your discipline. Save your silly outbursts or visits to Yasukuni for six months or so and you are home and dry.

Too late Moonraker, "Honest Abe" has just seen his wife return from the shrine. Geez, what a couple...

From the UK media perspective...

Mail on line (Basically white van man capable of scrawling 'blood and honour' without a spelling mistakes)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3376360/South-Korean-Comfort-women-blast-Japan-apology-keeping-sex-slaves-World-War-Two-amid-anger-British-POWs-not-offered-one.html

Daily Telegraph...(Right of centre, the liberal left refers to as the Torygraph)

Japan and South Korea reach historic deal on 'comfort women' abused during Second World War.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/12071152/Japan-and-South-Korea-near-agreement-on-comfort-women-abused-during-World-War-II.html

The Guardian view on Japan, South Korea and ‘comfort women’: one step towards healing the wounds of the past (liberal left)

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/28/the-guardian-view-on-japan-south-korea-and-comfort-women-one-step-towards-healing-the-wounds-of-the-past

BBC (Public Broadcaster left leaning)

'Comfort women': Japan and South Korea hail agreement....

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35190464

Quotes....

Former "comfort women" .......

Lee Yong-soo 88...... "I wonder whether the talks took place with the victims really in mind. We're not after the money. If the Japanese committed their sins, they should offer direct official government compensation".

Yoo Hee-nam, 88..... "If I look back, we've lived a life deprived of our basic rights as human beings. So I can't be fully satisfied. But we've been waiting all this time for the South Korean government to resolve the issue legally. As the government worked hard to settle deal before the turn of the year, I'd like to follow the government's lead."

Japanese journalist Nobuo Ikeda......."Japan pays 1bn yen and our PM apologises but South Korea will 'consult about the girl's statue' - that's not a diplomatic negotiation,"

Hiroka Shoji , Amnesty International...... “Today’s agreement must not mark the end of the road in securing justice for the hundreds of thousands [of] women who suffered due to Japan’s military sexual slavery system. The women were missing from the negotiation table and they must not be sold short in a deal that is more about political expediency than justice. Until the women get the full and unreserved apology from the Japanese government for the crimes committed against them, the fight for justice goes on.”

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery in Japan (New York Times)...... “It’s a humiliating diplomacy for South Korea to give a bushel only to get a peck. The agreement is nothing but a diplomatic collusion that thoroughly betrayed the wishes of comfort women and the South Korean people.”

Tomomi Inada, LDP MP ....“There is great meaning in achieving a final and irreversible resolution”.....

Prime Minster Shinzo Abe... "Japan and South Korea are now entering a new era, we should not drag this problem into the next generation."....

President Park Geun-hye ...........“I hope that the two countries will cooperate closely to build trust based on this agreement and open a new relationship, nine died this year alone, I hope the mental pains of the elderly comfort women will be eased."

“[Ban] appreciates President Park Geun-Hye of the Republic of Korea and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan for their leadership and vision for the betterment of the relationship between the two countries”

I realize that Ban made this optimistic statement in hopes that it would act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, but now that Abe has had his wife pay a visit to Yasukuni this statement Abe has just made Ban look extremely silly and naive. What a shame. That was a sneaky, two-faced move on Abe's part.

Just to let the fledgling goodwill internationally toward Japan sink in, couldn't the Mr./Mrs. Abe have waited at least a few months before allowing a high-profile Yasukini visit? News outlets around the world were even singing the praises of Abe and his newfound role as a peacemaker — but that was certainly short lived.

I suppose in Abe's mind payment of hush money to the comfort women allows Japan on the home front to deny and whitewash its past wrongdoings with impunity, and shields it from criticism from abroad with the notion that "but we apologized and paid money, now we can do and say what we want."

....and then there is Abe's wife. Wasn't this praise too soon Ban?

There may be some outstanding issues remaining but overall this is an excellent outcome. Well done to both sides for seeing reason despite what might be their truer feelings on the matter.

Never fear, in a about a year the anti Japan nationalists and their rabid followers will go back to the usual party line that Japan has 'never properly' apologized or atoned for its past atrocities including the comfort women issue.

I take all these praises and optimistic statements with a huge grain of salt.

History has shown that no matter how many apologies or compensation the Japanese government makes, it is never enough.

I can go to any random public forum on the world wide web now, start a debate about Japan and its wartime past, and I guarantee there will be multiple posters commenting that Japan has 'never' apologized (even with the recent comfort women issue being 'resolved').

Has there ever been a nation that has been unfairly maligned and misrepresented in the world of public opinion than Japan and its past? The biggest irony being, these people are engaging in the very same things they accuse the Japanese government of doing, whitewashing history.

overall this is an excellent outcome

Like you I was hopeful (but skeptical) when the agreement was made, and would have agreed with you until now. I had been anticipating a stretch of warming Japan-SK bilateral relations.

Mrs. Abe's Yasukuni visit immediately after making the agreement is the ultimate betrayal. The situation would have been much better if no agreement had been made in the first place. The visit and animosity engendered by the government's sneaky double dealing negate all of the goodwill created by the agreement, and then some.

Abe told reporters in Tokyo after speaking by phone with Park that the two countries “will welcome a new era.”

So much for the "new era." Abe put an end to the new era before it even had a chance to get off the ground. This has to be the greatest disappointment delivered by the Abe administration in 2015.

There were Japanese comfot women too. Has anyone heard their story? Just asking.

Mrs Abe's Yasukuni visit, while crass and ill-considered, was probably just a gesture by Abe to the extreme nationalist wing in his own party, throwing them a bone to distract them while he moves forward with an agreement which for once is in Japan's interests. At least, let's hope so. The other possibilities are that he is a total moron who could not anticipate any problems arising from the Yasukuni visit, or he really doesn't care about improving Japan's situation and relations with its neighbours. But if he really doesn't care, why would he even bother with the comfort women agreement in the first place? On this occasion I am inclined to go with the first option. While the Yasukuni visit was totally unncessary and is certainly inflammatory, it may have been determined as the least damaging to Abe's position within the party.

Mrs. Abe and the Japanese politicians who insist that they are only paying tribute to those who died for their country when they visit Yasukuni are not telling the truth. If that’s all they wanted to do, they could walk five minutes down to Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery. Emperor Hirohito stopped visiting Yasukuni after 1978 because the shrine had been tainted by the presence of the Class A war criminals. His son, current Emperor Akihito, has maintained the imperial embargo on visits. Yasukuni is not about dignified homage, it is about scoring political points and drawing attention to revisionist history. The only thing that Japan’s modern reactionaries regret about the war is defeat, and they are still fighting an uphill battle against Japanese public opinion to justify wartime Japan’s “noble mission.” No amount of sanitizing will change that. The only way to end the controversy is to impose a moratorium on visits to Yasukuni by any serving Cabinet minister and their wives. If Abe is truly looking for a new beginning for Japan’s relations with its neighbors, that’s where he should start.

sfjp330

Couldn't agree more.

Now that Japan already paid $$$ like she did in 1965, I think Koreans don't have more reasons to complain or cry about that. If she does, she will recognize that she is dumb.

What nonsense. A leopard cannot change its spots, a tiger cannot change its stripes, a country whose policy is playing the victim will always play the victim, and a blackmailer will always ask for more. The whole issue of "comfort women" (prostitutes procured by Korean agents) was settled in the Japan-South Korea Peace Treaty of 1965. Perhaps someone should inform South Korea that WWII ended 70 years ago.

The whole issue of "comfort women" (prostitutes procured by Korean agents) was settled in the Japan-South Korea Peace Treaty of 1965.

Um, have you not noticed that the issue is not settled at all, and is still very much a current issue? Reality would seem to contradict your opinion.

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the leaders of South Korea and Japan Monday for settling a dispute over “comfort women” forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II." I urge the UN to become directly involved in this process so there is a world-recognized resolution to this dilemma so the next time Korea says Japan hasn't atoned for its past, these records can be pulled out and shown. It is my opinion that while Japan's actions were horrible during WWII that Asian countries love to play the victim card when it suits them.

Now that Japan already paid $$$ like she did in 1965, I think Koreans don't have more reasons to complain or cry about that. If she does, she will recognize that she is dumb.

Before you make that comment, I suggest you read what your foreign minister said in front of your country's press:

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the one billion yen payment was not compensation but aimed at restoring the women’s dignity.

His own words, the $8.3 million which is by the way is a pitiful small change, is not even a compensation, as your own government insists. None of the women demanded that Japan pay them money to restore their dignity. They wanted direct no BS compensation with a straight out apology from the government. Did they get that? No.

........Japan is clearly rather sadistic to do this to themselves & they have embarrassed the world & the UN who have initially heaped praise on what has quickly become a VERY sneaky disrespectful move by Japan, really, has Japan really changed since Pearl Harbor.........appears it hasn't, what a sad sad day this has turned out to be!

StrangerlandDec. 29, 2015 - 12:27PM JST

The whole issue of "comfort women" (prostitutes procured by Korean agents) was settled in the Japan-South Korea Peace Treaty of 1965.

Um, have you not noticed that the issue is not settled at all, and is still very much a current issue? Reality would seem to contradict your opinion."

Of course the issue is not settled at all, and it never will be settled. It is not MY opinion; it is what is stated in the treaty. "There has been a constant call from the South Korean public (and to some extent, Japanese with left or liberal political leaning) that Japan should compensate Korean individuals who suffered from Japanese colonial rule. The Japanese government has refused to do so, arguing that it settled issues on a government-to-government basis under the 1965 agreement.

However, in January 2005, the South Korean government disclosed 1,200 pages of diplomatic documents that recorded the proceeding of the treaty. The documents, kept secret for 40 years, recorded that the Japanese government actually proposed to the South Korean government to directly compensate individual victims but it was the South Korean government which insisted that it would handle individual compensation to its citizens and then received the whole amount of grants on behalf of the victims."

In fact the money South Korea received from Japan (at that time an enormous amount) went to build its steel industry and the alleged "victims" of WWII received very little, if any, compensation.

Quite obviously South Korea did not and will never honor the treaty it signed, so how can "the issue" ever be settled? Bottom line, wars are fought, wars end and peace treaties are signed and supposedly everything is settled. But in the eyes of South Korea nothing is settled because it was humiliated, and for that it will never forgive Japan and will keep pounding Japan every chance it gets.

Park Cheung-he: Settled Compretely and Finally

Kim Yong-Sam: Would not demand any reparations and never bother Japan again if Kono Statement is issued

Kim Dae-Jung: Japan aplogized and S.K Accepted it. S.K would never bring up the issue of Comfort women

Roh Moo-hyun: Would not comment on past history during my term

Lee Myung-bak: Forward Looking only. Would not request for any apology

Park Geun-hye: Finally and irreversibly solved

That's right. And each time Japan was forced to accept Korea's story now that it has nothing to with the realty any more.

I think this repitition will continue until South Koreans overcome their inferiority complex, meanwhile comfort women story will be even more exaggerated in the future.

With Mrs. Abe going to Yasukuni at this time, Koreans will keep asking, NAY , DEMAND a sincere apology. Japan, has been cursed to constantly issue apologies, Why ? because of CHRONIC DECEITFULNESS !! Just like in Greek mythology about King Sisyphus of Ephyra.The serpentine nature of the Japanese is being watched by the whole world but much more carefully by the Chinese, North Koreans and Russians.

Just as I predicted, already there have been grumblings about this comfort women development.

One South Korean newspaper headline, in criticizing this development, claims that there's no legal responsibility on the part of Japan.

One of the caretakers of a housing unit in South Korea where surviving comfort women live criticized the development.

And this was BEFORE Abe's wife visited the shrine!

The anti Japan nationalists and their rabid followers will grasp at any little opening to denigrate the Japanese government and its people.

"Japan has 'never' apologized."

"It's not enough, no Japanese politician has groveled on his knees to beg for forgiveness."

On the day a historic agreement was reached between Japan and South Korea in regards to the comfort women issue (which Japan HAS tried to deal with before), where there should be support and hope, the anti Japan crowd sees fit to minimize and disregard it.

I'm only being a realist. I know that this is not an 'irreversible' settlement. The anti Japan nationalist and crowd will continue to portray Japan as unrepentant war mongers, 'insincere' in its apologies. They spout hatred for the sake of hatred so that they can continue to denigrate Japan, for no reason other than to poison the minds of future generations.

"It's not enough, no Japanese politician has groveled on his knees to beg for forgiveness."

I think someday South Korea will succeed in making Japanese politicians grovel on his knees to beg for forgiveness when US Democrats feel like to comply with the request as well.

What is the difference between “comfort women” in Japanese brothels during World War II and Today's ISIS' sex slave ?

The anti Japan nationalists and their rabid followers

Which with the angry anti Korea and their alzheimer memory deficient rabid follower making, overall, a good balance.

<>Nothing no amount of money or gold can compensate and heal the scars the suffering of 200 thousand comfort Women of Korea. The victims, the voices of the victims, the Comfort Women directly rightfully should reflect in the deal. As the Japanese government after more than 70 years admitting the most terrifying crimes against women and humanity may be a tiny step of progress and that is just a tiny step.

tinawatanabe,

the queen/king of the JT right wing trolls!

oldman_13: "Just as I predicted, already there have been grumblings about this comfort women development."

Ah, yes! You're right. The guys in the pic of the day in Tokyo waving the Hinomaru and demanding Abe "Retract now!" and "You're hurting our ancestors memories!". Bang on, oldman!

"I'm only being a realist."

Yeah, that or another two-syllable word that starts with "r" and ends in "ist".