New Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Thursday ruled out the possibility of renegotiating a deal struck with South Korea on the issue of “comfort women” who we
New Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Thursday ruled out the possibility of renegotiating a deal struck with South Korea on the issue of “comfort women” who were forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels, despite a request from Seoul.
It is “desirable” for the 2015 agreement between Japan and South Korea to be “steadily implemented, ” Kono said at his first press conference as foreign minister.
Kono’s father, Yohei, a former foreign minister and speaker of the House of Representatives, is known for issuing as chief Cabinet secretary in 1993 a landmark apology to the women. The issue has been the source of a long-standing diplomatic row between the two Asian countries.
Asked about the historical significance of the “Kono statement” that first acknowledges the forceful recruitment of girls and women and the involvement of the Japanese military, the new foreign minister did not clarify his thinking.
Kono’s remarks came as the administration of President Moon Jae-in, launched in May, has expressed its eagerness to renegotiate the deal signed in December 2015 under which Tokyo and Seoul agreed that the comfort women issue was “resolved finally and irreversibly.”
Some South Korean media have reported that Kono, seen as pro-South Korea, could be inclined to review the agreement.
