SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – A South Korean woman who was sexually addicted by the Japanese army of World War II, called on the leaders of both countries to resolve a stalemate over the case by verdict to ask at the International Court of Justice.
The 92-year-old woman, Lee Yong-soo, said on Tuesday that she hoped a ruling by the UN’s highest court that would handle disputes would close after she and other survivors fought unsuccessfully for 30 years and demanded that the Japanese government must accept legal responsibility for their slavery. .
Lee read out a message to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and lamented that the friction between governments over sexual slavery had also hurt civilian relations and discouraged exchanges and friendships between young people, which she said had not been properly trained. is not. about wartime history.
Moon’s office had no immediate response to Lee’s plea. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said the government would “carefully review” Lee’s proposal while hearing more opinions from survivors.
“Our government will continue to communicate closely with ‘comfort women’ as they try to resolve the issue,” he said, using a general euphemism for the former sex slaves.
It is unclear whether Seoul would ever consider referring the case to the UN court, where he has never fought in any case and when anything less than a sudden victory at home can be seen as a defeat.
But Lee said it had become clear that the issue could not be resolved through bilateral diplomatic talks or rulings by South Korean domestic courts that had been repeatedly rejected by the Japanese government.
“I’m not asking for money. (I ask for Japan)’s full recognition of responsibilities and apologies, “said Lee, who was sobbing as she read the letter during the news conference in Seoul.
“There is not much time. My last wish is that the president, our government, should rule according to international law so that I have something to say when I die and meet other survivors. ”
To Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Lee said: ‘Let’s do it together. Let’s go to the international court and discuss this issue in the right way once and for all, so that the people of both countries can treat each other like friends again … There is no reason for us to live like enemies. ”
Tens of thousands of women across Japanese-occupied Asia and the Pacific were relocated to leading brothels used by the Japanese military.
Bilateral tensions over sexual slavery flared up again last month when a South Korean court ruled that the Japanese government should give 100 million won ($ 90,000) to each of the 12 victims who filed lawsuits in 2013 over their wartime.
Japan insists that all wartime compensation issues be resolved under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations with South Korea, in which Tokyo provided $ 500 million in economic aid to Seoul.
Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu described last month’s court ruling as an “abnormal development absolutely unthinkable under international law and bilateral relations” and accused Seoul of deteriorating their ties.
The countries have already struggled to restore relations that sank to the lowest point in decades in 2019 due to earlier South Korean rulings seeking Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work in factories during the war.
If the matter is referred to the International Court of Justice, South Korea is likely to question whether Japan’s “consolation” system of military sexual slavery is in conflict with the international law in force at the time, “Ethan Hee-Seok Shin said. an international law, said an expert at Yonsei University who joined Lee at the news conference. Japan, on the other hand, may raise procedural questions, such as whether the 1965 agreement waives individual claims.
Although a lawsuit at the UN court could only happen if both countries agreed to take their dispute there, it would be illogical for Japan to object to it when it has already accused South Korean court rulings of violating international law. , he said.
“The survivors are not asking for money from the Japanese government, but would like to apologize and acknowledge responsibility for the recent action and to provide proper history education (for its public),” Shin said, adding that such goals would be unattainable. be by domestic court rulings.
“No matter what kind of verdict the International Court of Justice pronounces, it will surely have to judge whether the Japanese consolation system has violated international law and it would in itself make sense because it would permanently leave the testimonies of Lee and other survivors as evidence,” He said.