Japan’s ‘comfort women denial’ at UN, Korea is silent… “2015 agreement” as an excuse

◀ Anchor ▶

At a recent UN conference discussing women’s human rights issues, it was belatedly confirmed that the Japanese representative directly denied historical facts, saying, “Comfort women are groundless claims.”

At that time, the North Korean representative engaged in a sharp fight with the Japanese representative, but our South Korean representative did not make any remarks.

I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs why we stayed quiet.

Reporter Na Se-woong reported exclusively.

◀ Report ▶

On the 9th, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.

At the meeting on the topic of women’s human rights, a North Korean representative demanded a sincere apology and compensation from Japan for the comfort women issue.

[김 성/유엔 주재 북한 대사]

“Nearly 200,000 women and girls on the Korean Peninsula were made into sexual slaves by the Japanese government and military during the Japanese colonial period.”

Then, the Japanese representative immediately refuted the claim, saying it was a “baseless and incorrect claim.”

He also argued, “Every country must face its history humbly, and Japan has done so.”

[카미야 마사코/일본 특별고문]

“North Korea’s previous remarks about Japan were wrong and unfounded.”

North Korea repeatedly refuted the claim as if it were absurd, and Japan also refuted it again, and the two sides continued their battle through three statements.

[유엔 주재 북한 대표단]

“The facts of Japanese crimes cannot be erased or changed.”

[유엔 주재 일본 대표단]

“The claims and figures North Korea just said were based on errors and are all unfounded.”

Japan has repeatedly denied the existence of comfort women for the Japanese military.

The Korean representative also could have spoken, but he never came forward and remained silent.

Although all UN meetings are released on video, this meeting did not receive much attention in Korea.

In response to a question from the National Assembly about why he did not speak, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that “the 2015 comfort women agreement between Korea and Japan is an official agreement between the two countries,” in which they decided to refrain from criticism on the international stage.

[권칠승/국회 외교통일위원회]

“Korea’s silence regarding Japan’s statement denying comfort women, a historical fact, is like participating in Japan’s distortion of history.”

Two years after the Korea-Japan comfort women agreement, the government task force that reviewed the agreement came up with the interpretation that “this agreement does not restrict the international community, including the United Nations, from treating it as a universal human rights issue.”

A former senior diplomat with extensive experience working at the UN pointed out, “From an international human rights perspective, it would have been enough to just reveal the facts.”

This is Na Se-woong from MBC News.

Video coverage: Kim Dong-se / Video editing: Ryu Daye / Video provided by: UN Web TV

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