DPA/Reuters
Tokyo
Foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul next week to discuss new proposals to resolve a row over the Japanese army’s historical use of sex slaves, the two governments said yesterday.
“The issue is a very difficult one but I will do the best I can until the last minute” to make some progress, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters, ahead of Monday’s talks with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung Se. “I’m ready to rack my brains, do my utmost and sweat. We have been trying to realise the agreement ... to accelerate talks and seek an early settlement. This is part of this effort.”
“We’ve almost drafted a resolution. The focus is now on whether we can reach an agreement with the South Korean side,” an unnamed Japanese government official was quoted earlier by Kyodo News agency as saying.
Experts say up to 200,000 women, many of whom were Koreans, were forced into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.
The Korean peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945.
Abe agreed with South Korean President Park Geun Hye in November to speed up talks on the issue.
One of the new proposals is to expand by as much as 10 times the funds for a government-run programme to help provide medical and welfare care to some of the victims, Kyodo said.
Tokyo is also considering sending letters from Abe to the Korean women in an apparent expression of regret, Kyodo said.
The Nikkei business daily reported that Japan would also propose creating a government-backed fund as part of a possible agreement.
The Nikkei, citing a government source, said one proposal was for a fund of more than ¥100mn ($831,877) that would pay out 10 years’ worth of aid at once.
Meanwhile, Japan has demanded that South Korea remove a statue of a girl symbolising the sexual slavery issue erected in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
Tokyo’s official stance is currently that the issue of compensation was fully settled under a 1965 treaty with Seoul that normalised diplomatic relations.
Many survivors of the war-time brothels have urged Japan to issue an official apology, make reparations and include war-time atrocities in Japanese textbooks.