2015 “Comfort Women” Agreement between South Korea and Japan
On December 28, 2015, South Korea and Japan reached a “comfort women” agreement, which immediately faced major backlash in South Korea mainly because the victims’ input was excluded. This agreement was never ratified in the South Korean National Assembly either. Since Hak-Soon Kim, a former Japanese military sex slave, made the first public testimony in 1991, “comfort women” and their supporters have been demanding an official apology and reparations ratified in the Japanese National Diet, Japan’s legislature from the Japanese government. The former Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s apology indicated in the 2015 agreement to the victims was unofficial as it never ratified in the Diet. The same goes for the one billion yen (about $8.7 million USD in 2015) the Japanese government wanted to provide as part of the agreement. Because it was not ratified, the victims consider the one billion yen as charity rather than the Japanese government’s reparations. President Park Geun-Hye who supported the deal was impeached in March 2017. The new South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, commissioned a full investigation on this deal.
On December 27, 2017, the Special Task Force on the 2015 “comfort women” agreement between South Korea and Japan reported that part of the deal was made in secret. In exchange for the money from Japan, 1 billion yen, South Korea was to establish a foundation to help the survivors, provide no support for other efforts to install statues or monuments related to “comfort women” in other countries, stop referring to the victims as sex slaves, and remove the “comfort women” [Peace Girl] statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Education for Social Justice Foundation launched a joint international petition with other human rights advocacy groups and education organizations to demand nullification of the agreement, dismantlement of the foundation called Reconciliation and Healing (which was established with one billion yen), and the return of these funds to Japan. The petition was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea on January 7, 2018 . On January 9, 2018, the South Korean Foreign Minister Kyung-wha Kang announced that the South Korean government would return the money received from Japan as part of the 2015 agreement. On January 23, 2018, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Hyun-back Chung expressed her hope for the South Korean government to disband the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation by the end of 2018.
The various U.N. bodies supported the victims during this process as they have since the 1990s.
In 1996, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, urged the Japanese government to take into account and act upon her recommendations at the soonest possible time to restore the dignity of “comfort women.” In 1998, Gay McDougall, another U.N. Special Rapporteur, defined “comfort women” systems as crimes against humanity.
When the “comfort women” agreement between South Korea and Japan was reached in 2015 without consulting the victims, the CEDAW noted that it “did not fully adopt a victim-centered approach” and the U.N. Committee Against Torture recommended that S. Korea and Japan revise the agreement to provide the surviving victims with redress and reparations. In 2010, even before the 2015 agreement, Rashida Manjoo of the U.N. Human Rights Council stated, “Adequate reparations for women cannot simply be about returning them to where they were before the individual instance of violence, but instead should strive to have a transformative potential.”
On September 3, 2018, a few months before she passed away, 92-year-old Bok-Dong Kim (1926–2019) staged a solo protest in pouring rain, demanding the foundation disbanded. Only five days earlier, she’d undergone surgery, but she was determined to make an impact. On October 7, 2018, ESJF sent another petition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea supporting the disbandment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation. In November 2018, the Korean Council submitted a report to the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) stating that there had been “a lack of adequate reparations to the victims” of Japanese military sexual slavery. A few days later, on November 19, the committee called upon Japan to report accurate data on the number of victims of military sexual slavery for an investigation to uncover the truth and to offer reparations to the victims.
Two days later, on November 21, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family made a formal announcement that the South Korean government would begin the process of closing the foundation established under the 2015 agreement. Though Kim unfortunately did not live to hear a formal apology from the Japanese government, her actions clearly made a difference. A week before she passed away, on January 21, 2019, Kim witnessed the impact of her last act when the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family revoked the permission for the establishment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation.
On June 17, 2019, a formal application to register the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation’s dissolution was submitted, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in South Korea was notified on July 3 that the procedure had been completed.
ESJF issued an international joint statement supporting the action of the dissolution of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation and asking to return one billion yen to Japan if it had not had been completed. Since the two enactments of the 2015 “Comfort Women” agreement have been annulled, the 2015 agreement is, in actuality, nullified. A total of forty organizations from ten countries endorsed the statement. In commemoration of the 7th International “Comfort Women” Day, ESJF sent the international joint statement to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On December 27, 2017, the Special Task Force on the 2015 “comfort women” agreement between South Korea and Japan reported that part of the deal was made in secret. In exchange for the money from Japan, 1 billion yen, South Korea was to establish a foundation to help the survivors, provide no support for other efforts to install statues or monuments related to “comfort women” in other countries, stop referring to the victims as sex slaves, and remove the “comfort women” [Peace Girl] statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Education for Social Justice Foundation launched a joint international petition with other human rights advocacy groups and education organizations to demand nullification of the agreement, dismantlement of the foundation called Reconciliation and Healing (which was established with one billion yen), and the return of these funds to Japan. The petition was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea on January 7, 2018 . On January 9, 2018, the South Korean Foreign Minister Kyung-wha Kang announced that the South Korean government would return the money received from Japan as part of the 2015 agreement. On January 23, 2018, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Hyun-back Chung expressed her hope for the South Korean government to disband the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation by the end of 2018.
The various U.N. bodies supported the victims during this process as they have since the 1990s.
In 1996, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, urged the Japanese government to take into account and act upon her recommendations at the soonest possible time to restore the dignity of “comfort women.” In 1998, Gay McDougall, another U.N. Special Rapporteur, defined “comfort women” systems as crimes against humanity.
When the “comfort women” agreement between South Korea and Japan was reached in 2015 without consulting the victims, the CEDAW noted that it “did not fully adopt a victim-centered approach” and the U.N. Committee Against Torture recommended that S. Korea and Japan revise the agreement to provide the surviving victims with redress and reparations. In 2010, even before the 2015 agreement, Rashida Manjoo of the U.N. Human Rights Council stated, “Adequate reparations for women cannot simply be about returning them to where they were before the individual instance of violence, but instead should strive to have a transformative potential.”
On September 3, 2018, a few months before she passed away, 92-year-old Bok-Dong Kim (1926–2019) staged a solo protest in pouring rain, demanding the foundation disbanded. Only five days earlier, she’d undergone surgery, but she was determined to make an impact. On October 7, 2018, ESJF sent another petition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea supporting the disbandment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation. In November 2018, the Korean Council submitted a report to the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) stating that there had been “a lack of adequate reparations to the victims” of Japanese military sexual slavery. A few days later, on November 19, the committee called upon Japan to report accurate data on the number of victims of military sexual slavery for an investigation to uncover the truth and to offer reparations to the victims.
Two days later, on November 21, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family made a formal announcement that the South Korean government would begin the process of closing the foundation established under the 2015 agreement. Though Kim unfortunately did not live to hear a formal apology from the Japanese government, her actions clearly made a difference. A week before she passed away, on January 21, 2019, Kim witnessed the impact of her last act when the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family revoked the permission for the establishment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation.
On June 17, 2019, a formal application to register the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation’s dissolution was submitted, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in South Korea was notified on July 3 that the procedure had been completed.
ESJF issued an international joint statement supporting the action of the dissolution of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation and asking to return one billion yen to Japan if it had not had been completed. Since the two enactments of the 2015 “Comfort Women” agreement have been annulled, the 2015 agreement is, in actuality, nullified. A total of forty organizations from ten countries endorsed the statement. In commemoration of the 7th International “Comfort Women” Day, ESJF sent the international joint statement to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
