[Yonhap Photo]
South Korea's cabinet member in charge of female rights promised to set up a museum for "comfort" women sexually enslaved by Japan's imperial army, in a move that could fuel a row between the countries over one of their most sensitive diplomatic issues.
Under a 2015 deal, Japan agreed to donate one billion yen ($9 million) to a foundation dedicated to supporting the victims of sexual slavery. In return, Tokyo wanted Seoul to tear down the "comfort woman" statues erected by civic groups outside Japanese legations.
President Moon Jae-in has hinted at a possible renegotiation of the deal, saying many Koreans do not endorse it.
During her visit Monday to a shelter for "comfort" women, Gender Equality Minister Chung Huyn-back disclosed a government plan to build the museum for them near the center of Seoul so that it could become a "mecca" for future generations to remember and recall Japan's past wrongdoing.
"Comfort women are not an issue just between South Korea and Japan anymore. That's an international issue," she said, adding the government hopes to embark on the construction of the museum at an early date. "The museum will become a mecca for war and women's rights."
Chung also said the government would step up the proposed listing of comfort women as a UNESCO heritage despite bitter protests by Japan.
Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women mostly from Korea were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese troops. Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan over its 1910-45 colonial rule, and they want Tokyo's sincere apology.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
임장원
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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