Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 31 - August 13 [HISTORY]

JCP Kasai reveals 1965 foreign ministry document calling for diplomatic solution of ‘comfort women’ issue

Japan’s foreign ministry in 1965 issued a document calling for diplomatic efforts to solve the issues emerging between South Korea, including compensation for victims of Japanese military sex slavery during WWII, Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Kasai Akira revealed on August 6.

The document provides explanations for the wording of the Japan-South Korea Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims on Economic Co-operation signed in 1965.

The Japanese government has taken the position that with conclusion of the 1965 bilateral agreement, problems regarding claims for wartime damages were already settled and thus “no conflicts exist” between the two nations. In accordance with this position, Japan has dismissed the demand for recompense from former “comfort women”.

In the 1965 material on the agreement, the Foreign Ministry defined “disagreement on an issue” expressed by either Tokyo or Seoul as a conflict. The ministry pointed out that when a conflict occurs, the two nations should “make every possible effort to settle the conflict through diplomacy”. It also stated that this attitude should be applied for “possible future conflicts”.

Kasai said that disagreement between Japan and South Korea on the “comfort women” issue, which has become more pronounced since the 1990s, must be regarded as a “conflict” in line with the foreign ministry’s explanation as stated in the document.

The Japanese government should sincerely negotiate with the South Korean government without delay and work for a diplomatic resolution to the issue, Kasai stressed.