Japan “Expresses Apology” to South Korea Over Wartime Sex Slavery

Japan colonised Korea from 1910-45 and has now apologised for the use of Korean comfort women during WW II.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (facing camera) sits facing his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-Se during their in Seoul. (Photo: Reuters)      

Japan on Monday apologised to South Korea over the Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II, as the two countries reached a landmark deal on the sensitive issue that has remained a sore point in relations for decades.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumoi Kishida at a joint press conference here with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se read a statement saying Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “expresses apology and remorse from the heart for all the people suffering hard-to-cure wounds and many pains” physically and psychologically.

<p> The comfort women issue is an issue whereby many women under the then military’s involvement bore deep scars to their honour and dignity, and from this perspective, the Japanese government acutely feels responsible.</p>

<p> Fumoi Kishida, Japanese Foreign Minister</p>

Former South Korean sex slaves, who were forced to serve for the Japanese Army during World War II. (Photo: AP)      

Japan has expressed its regret, contrition and apologised for its colonial-era sexual enslavement of Korean women, and agreed to provide 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) for a foundation to be established by South Korea to support the surviving victims.

The two sides said that the foundation would be erected to carry out a series of projects to “restore the honour and dignity of the victims, and heal their psychological scars.”

The Tokyo government also said that it “felt strongly” about its responsibility for the wartime atrocities that have been at the core of South Korea’s historical resentment toward its onetime coloniser.

Japan colonised Korea from 1910-45.