Korea forms task force on Japan's wartime sexual slavery

From The Korea Times: Korea forms task force on Japan's wartime sexual slavery
Korea's foreign ministry has set up a task force to deal with the issue of compensation for Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japan's World War II soldiers, an official said Thursday.

The task force was formed as Japan has yet to respond to Korea's Sept. 15 proposal to hold bilateral talks to discuss the issue, following a ruling late last month by the Constitutional Court that it is unconstitutional for the Seoul government to make no specific effort to settle the issue with Tokyo.

"The task force, manned by diplomats who have specialized in international law and bilateral relations with Japan, will seek ways to resolve the issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said.

Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945, has acknowledged that its wartime military used sex slaves, but refuses to directly compensate them individually, arguing that the issue was settled by a 1965 normalization treaty.

Despite the Japanese claim, some South Korean officials said Seoul could ask Tokyo to directly compensate the victims because Japan's wartime sexual slavery was regarded as a "war crime against humanitarianism."

The issue of the former sex slaves, euphemistically called "comfort women," is one of the most emotional issues that still remains unresolved between South Korea and Japan.

In a possible get-tough measure, the ministry is considering raising the issue at a U.N. meeting on women's affairs to be held in New York next month, a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

A 1996 report by then U.N. special rapporteur, Radhika Coomaraswamy, concluded that Japan's wartime sexual slavery of foreign women was a violation of international law, and urged Tokyo to make an official apology and pay compensation.

Since the early 1990s, South Korea has intermittently raised the issue at U.N. meetings.

"We are weighing the necessary diplomatic options by accepting the Constitutional Court's ruling," the official said. "While pursuing bilateral talks with Japan, we are also reviewing a plan to raise the issue at the U.N. meeting next month."

According to historians, up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese brothels during World War II.

Japan's former wartime sexual enslavement is becoming an increasingly urgent priority as most victims are elderly and fear they may die before they receive compensation or an apology from Japan