Grandma Yong-soo Lee informs the Korean delegation to Japan about steps to resolve the “comfort women” issue

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Published by CARE at April 24, 2022

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94-year-old Lee Yong-soo informs the Korean Delegation to Japan for President-elect, Yoon Seok-yeol, about concrete steps necessary for a survivor-centered resolution to Japan’s WWII-era military sexual slavery

April 21, 2022

Today, Yong-soo Lee, a 94-year-old activist and survivor of Japan’s WWII military sexual slavery (the “comfort women” system), informed an upcoming South Korean delegation to Japan about concrete steps necessary for a survivor-centered resolution. The delegation is headed by National Assemblyman Chung Jin-suk, and was formed by President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol. Report in Korean: https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25065284#home (please use Google Translate)

For over a year, Ms. Lee has led a committee (the ICJ Committee) that has urged the South Korean government to refer “comfort women” issues for resolution by a UN tribunal or treaty body, including deficiencies in the so-called “2015 Joint Announcement” between Japan and South Korea. The Announcement was a surprise deal that shocked and angered the elderly survivors, who have repudiated it and objected to its facade of “finally and irreversibly” resolving the issue. UN human rights authorities have further criticized the Announcement as excluding the victims’ voices.

AP report: S. Korean slavery victim seeks UN justice as time runs out (http://apne.ws/h3OAlrl)

Ms. Lee and the ICJ Committee also delivered to the delegation the results of a public survey on Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery. The survey confirms that, within South Korea, there continues to be overwhelming public support for a survivor- or victim-centered resolution (83.2%) and for resolution through a UN body, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or the Committee Against Torture (CAT) (78.5%). 68.5% support re-negotiation of the so-called “2015 Joint Announcement.”

However, ignoring the objections of Ms. Lee and other survivors, as well as South Korean public opinion and will, Foreign Minister nominee Park Jin said in a press briefing yesterday that the so-called “2015 Joint Announcement” is an official inter-government agreement. (https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/04/d339e55f4de9-s-koreas-next-top-diplomat-calls-2015-comfort-women-pact-official.html)

Publicly, Japan continues to deny that “comfort women” were sexually enslaved and to pressure textbook publishers to censor and diminish the sexual and gender-based war crimes and mass atrocities committed by Japan’s Imperial Armed Forces during the Asia-Pacific War.

Survey results are available here: https://sites.google.com/view/openlettercomfortwomenicj/resources#h.t5wp16sxj2o0