| Minister of Gender Equality and Family Cho Yoon-seon, left, speaks with Kim Dong-chan, president of New York-based group Korean American Civic Empowerment, at the "comfort women" monument in Bergen County, New Jersey, Saturday (local time). / Courtesy of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Cho Yoon-seon, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, returned to Seoul on Sunday after wrapping up her five-day visit to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee meeting.
During her visit, the minister called on the international community to act to resolve the decades-old issue of sex slaves during World War II.
On Saturday, Cho visited the "comfort women" monument set up in Bergen County, New Jersey to honor hundreds of thousands of wartime victims who were forced into sex slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war.
She met U.S.-based activists, including Kim Dong-chan, president of non-profit group Korean American Civic Empowerment, to listen to their activities on Japan's wartime crime.
Cho also addressed the comfort women issue at the U.N. Third Committee meeting during her speech delivered in New York, Friday (local time).
Giving vivid, detailed accounts of what she heard from the victims of Japan's wartime crimes, Cho called on Japan to demonstrate penitence for its wartime atrocities.
"An estimated 100,000 or more women were forced into sex slavery during World War II by Japan. Among them, only 56 victims are now alive in Korea. (As a South Korean minister), I urge Japan to offer a sincere apology for the inhumane things the country did to young girls and then take necessary measures," said Cho.
"If there are people who play a waiting game to make sure that there will be nobody who can witness their crime in the past, I say they are making a serious mistake. History says what happened in the past, especially wrong things, were always corrected later."
Earlier, she met U.S. politician Mike Honda who played an active role in raising Japan's wartime crime in the United States to discuss the issue of the comfort women.