Under the accord, endorsed by Shinzo Abe and Moon’s conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, Japan apologised to surviving victims and provided 1 billion yen to a welfare fund
Japan and South Korea are set on a diplomatic collision course after South Korean President Moon Jae-in dismissed as unworkable a 2015 agreement on Japan’s wartime use of sex slaves.
Moon said in a statement on Thursday the agreement was “seriously flawed” and “cannot solve” the countries’ long-standing dispute over the “ comfort women ” – a euphemism for tens of thousands of women and girls, mostly from the Korean peninsula, who were coerced into working in Japanese military brothels before and during the second world war.
“This runs afoul of the established universal principle of the international community for settling history issues, and above all, it was a political agreement that excludes the victims themselves and citizens,” Moon said of the deal.
“Along with citizens, I, as president, make it clear again that the comfort women issue can’t be settled through this deal.”
Moon’s comments came a day after a South Korean government task force said the agreement, in which Japan agreed to provide funds for the dwindling number of survivors, had failed to take into account the former sex slaves’ feelings.
That drew an angry response from Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who warned that bilateral ties would become “unmanageable” if Seoul failed to honour the agreement, in which both sides pledged to resolve the dispute “finally and irreversibly”.
Kono said in a statement: “The Japan-South Korea agreement is between the two governments and one that has been highly appreciated by international society.
“If the South Korean government… tried to revise the agreement that is already being implemented, that would make Japan’s ties with South Korea unmanageable and it would be unacceptable.
