SOUTH KOREA-USA/COMFORT WOMAN 'Comfort woman' meets officials at the State Department

Record ID: 148735

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA-USA/COMFORT WOMAN 'Comfort woman' meets officials at the State Department
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 2, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) KIM BOK-DONG, 89 YEAR OLD SOUTH KOREAN 'COMFORT WOMAN' EXITING THE STATE DEPARTMENT, BEING PUSHED IN A WHEEL CHAIR INTREPRETER ASKING KIM BOK-DONG A QUESTION IN KOREAN (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) KIM BOK-DONG, 89 YEAR OLD SOUTH KOREAN 'COMFORT WOMAN', SAYING: "I feel very happy but I really wish our iss
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACI2OOSRDT7FF9O36W0SUBY1OY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Representatives from the Korean Council escorted 89-year-old Kim Bok-dong traveled from South Korea to meet with officials at the Department of State to galvanize support to demand an official apology and legal reparations from the Japanese government.
    Kim says she was one of about 200,000 women, mostly from South Korea, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese before and during World War II.
    Kim is part of an organization that holds protests every Wednesday outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
    Kim said via a translator she was happy to speak to officials at the State Department, but hopes to soon have closure to this decades old issue.
    "I feel very happy but I really wish our issue can be resolved, " adding " My wish is that the Japanese government would settle this issue as soon as possible" Kim told Reuters.
    The issue of the so-called 'comfort women' during Japan's colonization of the Korean peninsula remains a highly sensitive issue between the two countries.
    Japan says the matter of compensation for the women was settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties. In addition, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono apologized in a 1993 statement acknowledging authorities' involvement in coercing them.
    In 1995, Japan created a fund to make payments to the women from donations, budgeted money for their welfare support and sent letters of apology from successive premiers.
    Abe, a former critic of the 1993 statement, now says he will uphold it, but South Korea says Japan has not atoned enough. Many Japanese conservatives say there is no proof that authorities directly coerced the women.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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