SEOUL (Kyodo) — South Korea called on Japan again Thursday to hold talks on compensating Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, reiterating demands to discuss the issue of the “comfort women.”

“We urge Japan to take responsible and sincere action on the nearest possible date,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Han Hye Jin told a press briefing.

Han’s comment came a day before the second anniversary of a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea that states the South Korean government’s failure to deal with the comfort women issue “constitutes infringement on the basic human rights of the victims and a violation of the Constitution.”

In a bid to bring Japan to the negotiating table, Seoul plans to send an official letter to the Japanese government at a “proper” time, a Foreign Ministry official was quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency as saying.

The ministry sent two letters to Japan in 2011 seeking compensation for the former comfort women who are now in their 80s.

The Japanese government failed to respond to the letters.

According to Japan, all issues regarding compensation arising from its 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula were settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations.

Up to 200,000 women, including many Koreans and Chinese, were forced into sex slavery by the Japanese army, historians and human rights organizations say.

The number of survivors in South Korea is now down to 56 as one former comfort woman died Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.

Kyodo News, August 29, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130829p2g00m0dm095000c.html

Former ’comfort women’ seek compensation from Japan through S. Korean court

SEOUL — Twelve former South Korean “comfort women” applied to the Seoul Central District Court on Aug. 13 for civil mediation demanding compensation from the Japanese government for their treatment during World War II.

According to a representative for the plaintiffs, it is the first time South Korean former comfort women have taken court action against the Japanese government in their own country. In the past, former comfort women have always brought lawsuits to Japanese courts, where their claims have always been rejected.

The plaintiffs sought 100 million won, or around 8.8 million yen, per person in compensation. The Japanese government is not expected to agree and the plaintiffs will likely proceed to file a lawsuit.

International law normally does not allow taking other countries’ governments to court in civil cases. However, the plaintiffs’ representative says that “recently, an international trend to exempt inhumane activities (from protection from international civil lawsuits) has emerged.”

The Japanese government says the issue of compensation for former comfort women was resolved by an agreement that accompanied the 1965 Japan-Republic of Korea Basic Relations Treaty. The South Korean government, however, says the former comfort women are not covered by that agreement.

Mainichi Shimbun, August 14, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130814p2a00m0na006000c.html