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Friday, December 29, 2017, 18:33
ROK ruling party chief wants new comfort women deal with Japan
By Xinhua
Friday, December 29, 2017, 18:33 By Xinhua

A statue of a teenage girl symbolising former "comfort women" who served as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, is seen in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Jan 6, 2016. (JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

SEOUL - Chief of the Republic of Korea's ruling Democratic Party said Friday that a new deal with Japan is needed over wartime sex slavery victims to make the deal acceptable to the victims.    

Choo Mi-ae, chairperson of the Democratic Party, told a party meeting that the 2015 deal was not an agreement as it was aimed to cover up the truth, referring to the 2015 deal between then ROK government under ousted president Park Geun-hye and the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.    

ALSO READ: Tokyo insists on no change as Seoul says 'comfort women' deal flawed

The deal was reached on Dec 28, 2015 to finally and irreversibly settle the issue over the ROK's comfort women victims in return for Japan's offer of 1 billion yen (US$9 million) to a foundation supporting the victims.     

Comfort women euphemistically refer to the Korean girls and young women who were kidnapped, forced or duped into sex servitude for Japanese military brothels during World War II. Up to 200,000 women, mostly from the Korean Peninsula, served as sex slaves during the devastating war, according to historians.     

A task force of Seoul's foreign ministry announced its review result over the 2015 deal earlier this week, discovering a secret agreement between the two countries. It angered the victims and advocacy groups supporting the victims.    

President Moon Jae-in said the wartime sex slavery issue cannot be resolved by the 2015 deal.     

The governing party chief said historical issues should be dealt with in a way not to damage truth and principle.     

Some of ROK netizens said the government should return the 1 billion-yen fund back to Japan to start renegotiations on the wartime crime against humanity. 

Japan claimed that the 2015 deal should be implemented, indicating no intention to renegotiate the deal.  

READ MORE: ROK confirms existence of secret deal with Japan on comfort women

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