‘Japan’s sex slavery is anti-humanity crime’

Members of a student group dance to “Gangnam Style,” singer Psy’s recent hit, at Seoul Plaza, downtown Seoul, Wednesday, during an event celebrating Liberation Day. (Photo : Yonhap)

President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday colonial Japan’s conscription of sex slaves who were forced to serve soldiers amounted to a crime against humanity.

“The issue involving mobilization of comfort women by the Japanese military goes beyond relations between Korea and Japan,” Lee said in a speech to mark the 67th anniversary of Liberation Day.

“It is about the issue of women’s rights in time of war. It was an act that contravenes our universal value as human beings and contradicts the flow of history.”

This is the first time a South Korean leader has addressed the issue of sexual slavery in a Liberation Day speech.

The issue remains unsettled because Japan has been reluctant to heed the growing voices for compensation for the victims, insisting this has already been rendered.

Activists and victims put up a statue of a girl in traditional costume in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul last November to mark the 1,000th anniversary of weekly rallies against Japan.

Tokyo reacted nervously to the Peace Statue, asking Seoul to remove it, which was not accepted.

Of 234 registered victims of the wartime crime, only 61, who are in their 80s, are still alive.

Calling Japan a close neighbor and friend, President Lee urged the Japanese government to be cooperative in removing historic hurdles to progress in bilateral relations.

“We have to point out that chains tangled in the history of Korea-Japan relations are hampering the common march toward a better tomorrow in the Northeast Asian region, as well as bilateral ties,” he said.

Lee made the remarks amid escalating tension after he made a surprise visit last week to the easternmost islets of Dokdo, which are also claimed by Japan.

The President has played hardball with Japan recently, a shift from his pragmatic position on the neighbor in his early presidency.

On North Korea, President Lee said South Korea will carefully watch for the possible changes in the reclusive nation.

“Pyongyang has come to a situation where it needs to look at reality and consider a transformation.”

Of late North Korea has sent a series of signals that some construe as indicating that it might be seeking economic reform.

Kim Jong-un attended a rare performance featuring Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh last month. Actresses were also seen in strapless gowns and little black dresses, which were thought to be unthinkable before.

The North also sent the high-level delegations to Laos and Vietnam and China. All these signs were seen as a change, prompting analysts to speculate North Korea might be set to launch economic reform.

President Lee said South Korea is “open to inter-Korean dialogue while at the same time being mindful of the human situation in the North.”

A Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity that Seoul will watch closely what’s going on in the North and will be willing to encourage and help it if the Stalinist state is heading along the right path.

In the speech, President Lee addressed the widening income gap between high-and low-income earners and the negative fallout of the eurozone crisis as two major policy challenges facing the nation. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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