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| Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau, enters Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, Wednesday, for the third round of talks on Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
South Korea and Japan resumed their high-level talks in Seoul Wednesday on Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.
Director General Lee Sang-deok for Northeast Asian affairs at the foreign ministry met his Japanese counterpart Junichi Ihara in their third round of talks since May. They exchanged views on how to resolve the long-standing impasse in relations between the two neighboring countries.
Seoul and Tokyo held the second round of talks in May following their agreement in April to have such a meeting every month. The meeting, however, was suspended in June in the wake of Tokyo's announcement that Japan's landmark apology in 1993 about the wartime sex slavery of Korean women was the result of a political compromise between the two countries.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government said the two countries fine-turned wording of the so-called Kono Statement that acknowledged the victims were forced to work at military brothels during the Pacific War. The statement, named after former Japanese prime minister in 1993, has been a key element of the basis of relations between Seoul and Tokyo. It was written based on the accounts of 16 Korean victims. Historians estimate up to 200,000 women were victimized.
Seoul protested against the conservative Abe government, claiming Tokyo's move was intended to downplay the significance of the apology and justify its war crimes.
The issue of sexual enslavement under Japanese colonial rule has been a major cause of diplomatic tension between the two countries. South Korea has called on Japan to resolve the issue by showing sincerity through a formal apology and compensation to the victims. On other hand, Japan has claimed that all grievances related to its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula were settled through a 1965 treaty that normalized their bilateral ties.
The May meeting in Seoul marked the first official attempt by the two neighboring countries to tackle the issue. The two sides failed to reach agreement repeatedly since then, including June when they met in Tokyo.
It was initially speculated that Japan would take a set of "humanitarian measures" that Abe's predecessor, Yoshihiko Noda, discussed from 2011 to 2012 with then-President Lee Myung-bak.
Such possible measures included Tokyo's offer of monetary support to the victims, the two leaders' affirmation of bilateral efforts to resolve the issue and a Japanese ambassador's apology.
The foreign ministers of the two countries will attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Myanmar on Aug. 10. It is an annual conference among the 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific, as well as the United States and European Union, to discuss ways to secure peace and security in the region. Analysts have forecasted Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida are likely hold a meeting on the sidelines of the conference.
