The history of international relations between the Japanese and Korean governments is one checkered with conflict. However the recent announcement of the continuance of the 2015 agreement and support of the so-called “comfort women” stands as a flagrant display of national brotherhood.
The Japanese Prime Minister has stated in opposition to the revised meant of the 2015 agreement and talks with South Korean Pres. Moon. This was done with the auspice of creating a future oriented relationship and was noted in the opening of the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
The comfort women stories or so-called comfort women testimonies are simply the memories of the horrible transgressions against the South Korean comfort women which occurred near the end of World War II. During this time. Japanese troops were known to force South Korean women to work in brothels in a form of sexual slavery. They were known as Korean comfort women a derogatory term for the women who were forced to work in these conditions.
In 2015 a deal was reached between the Japanese and South Korean governments that included an apology to the descendents of these women that provided around $9 million to help alleviate the grievances. Just earlier this year South Korea created a statement saying that the 2015 agreement had a failed to meet the needs of victims and called for greater action. The Japanese government retaliated and stated that the agreement will not be changed. It is the Japanese government believed that the agreement is final and irreversibly solves the issue.
Is the belief of South Korean Pres. moon that the trauma the victims have suffered emotionally is not going to be concluded through simple governmental exchanges between South Korea and Japan. In defiance of the differences between the two nations the leaders of’s South Korea and Japan, Moon and Abe, made the decision to continue shuttle diplomacy and organized a trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea and China at their earliest convenience. At this conference the confirmed combined efforts to maintain a strong pressure on North Korea in order to get them to abandon their nuclear weapons programs.
The history of South Korean comfort women is one that is marked by significant tragedy. The term for these individuals is simply a euphemism for women and girls who have been forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II it is unknown exactly how many women were forced into these arrangements but estimates have been as high as 400,000. These women were used in what was termed military comfort stations throughout the southeastern Asian battle zone and other Japanese occupied territories.
Perhaps the worst part of the the treatment of these individuals is the fact that approximately three quarters of them passed away and almost all of the survivors were left in fertile as a result of sexually driven diseases. Both beatings and physical torture were commonly seen in the camps. It is difficult to see past these terrible atrocities that have occurred between the two nations but the presidents and leaders of the nations of Japan and South Korea promised to cooperate. Tremendous emotional trauma has inflicted upon these women and it is not an easy process to rehabilitate them. Luckily to see for the two nations have been diffused as they aim to cooperate in the future towards bilateral agreements in the disarmament of North Korea and the easing of tensions. Japan has boldly stated that there is no reason to talk simply for the sake of talk. The agreements that were made in 2015 aim to alleviate some of these grievances of the famously tragic atrocities.