![]() ![]() Fourth the article briefly elaborates on how far the general victims’ needs and rights are addressed by the agreement.ĭue to the article’s scope and because of the high importance placed by the victims on their list of demands, only the needs for acknowledgement and memorialisation are explored in-depth. Third, the article examines the components of the agreement and their implications. It is demonstrated here that the victims’ needs are justifiable based both on social scientific studies and on international legal principles. Second, to better comprehend the link between the crime, Japan’s initial reactions and the victims’ demands, the article then portrays the needs and rights of the South Korean victims as shaped by the type of abuse they suffered. First, it starts by describing the system of sexual slavery perpetrated by the Japanese, its effects on the South Korean victims, and the initial reactions of the Japanese government. The article takes four steps to address the main research question. In order to fulfil its aim, this article explores the following main research question: To what extent does the 2015 South Korean–Japanese agreement address the needs and rights of South Korean women who were victims of sexual slavery before, during, and after the Second World War? Hence, the purpose of this article is to reflect on the scope to which the agreement fulfils and strengthens the needs and rights of South Korean victims. Although the deal improved the relations between South Korea and Japan, it remains questionable whether such a political success was achieved at the cost of disregarding the victims’ perspective. 6 Nevertheless, concerns regarding the irreversibility of the 2015 agreement still endure. In spite of constant public criticism and speculations of revisions and renegotiation of the deal, on 9 January 2018, the then South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha claimed that the agreement would be sustained. 4 The rejection of the agreement was expressed through numerous demonstrations, including one in which a South Korean Buddhist monk took the radical decision of setting himself on fire as a sign of protest. Many of the surviving South Korean victims and their supporters claimed that the agreement was reached without the victims’ consultation, and as a result failed to reflect their views and needs. 3 While the 2015 agreement was perceived as an important development at the international level, it was highly contested by the South Korean society. This statue represented the women who had fallen victims of the sexual slavery system. The South Korean government also promised to take measures for addressing the Japanese government’s concern regarding a statue placed before the Japanese embassy in Seoul by South Korean human rights activists. In accordance with the agreement, the then Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida made a public apology on behalf of the then Japanese Prime Minister Abe for the suffering experienced by all former ‘comfort women’ and agreed to contribute approximately usd 8 000 000 to support the living South Korean victims. 2 The abuses experienced by these women were not properly addressed for decades.Ī seemingly positive step was however taken on 28 December 2015, when South Korea and Japan announced that they had reached an agreement which ‘finally and irreversibly’ resolved the so-called ‘comfort women’ issue. 1 Although the victims came from all the regions of the Japanese Empire, Korea was the main source for procuring ‘comfort women’. Estimates of the total number vary, but historians argue that approximately 50 000 to 200 000 women have been victims of this system. These women were known euphemistically as ‘comfort women’, and the rape centres where they were exploited as ‘comfort stations’. ![]() In this rape system, thousands of women from Japan’s occupied territories were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese troops. Between 1932 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army together with the support of the Japanese Government established an institutionalised system of sexual violence. ![]()
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