29 December 2015•Update: 30 December 2015
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea was forced Tuesday to defend the previous day's landmark “comfort women” agreement with Japan, after criticism of the deal by surviving victims of Tokyo's colonial era practice of sexual slavery.
Following years of diplomatic frostiness with Seoul over the issue, Monday's breakthrough saw Japan promise to pay out 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) in compensation to women forced to serve as military “comfort women” under Tokyo's 1910-45 rule over the Korean Peninsula.
During talks in the South Korean capital, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also relayed the apparently heartfelt remorse of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- who was previously accused of trying to whitewash history.
Tokyo had long maintained that the “comfort women” issue was settled under a 1965 bilateral treaty normalizing relations with South Korea.
While the latest conclusive agreement drew swift praise from the likes of the United States and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 88-year-old former “comfort woman” Lee Yong-soo delivered a press conference accusing Seoul and Tokyo of overlooking the victims and insisting that they want legal compensation rather than money.
A South Korean presidential office spokesperson maintained Tuesday that the agreement "was reached in accordance with the firm principle that the victims' honor should be restored, and their wounds should be healed."
The foreign ministry also announced that a pair of senior officials would be aiming to meet with former sex slaves from the South -- 46 of whom are known to still be alive from an original number estimated to have reached the hundreds of thousands, including women from other countries.
At least one victim came forward Monday to defend Seoul, as Yu Hee-nam told reporters that she would "follow their decision" in light of the government's efforts to resolve the matter.
