Deal will include support services using Japanese government funds
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. ENLARGE
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. PHOTO: JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By KWANWOO JUN in Seoul and ALEXANDER MARTIN in Tokyo
Updated Dec. 28, 2015 1:45 p.m. ET
84 COMMENTS
South Korea and Japan reached an agreement that aims to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean women who were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War II, a festering wound that has inflamed tensions between the U.S.’s two most important allies in Asia.
Under the accord, Japan will supply ¥1 billion ($8.3 million) in government funds to support the so-called comfort women. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also apologized for the women’s treatment, something he had been reluctant to do previously.
The wartime issue has long strained ties between the two neighbors and caused concern in Washington. “We must not let this problem drag on into the next generation,” Mr. Abe said in Tokyo after the agreement was announced in Seoul.
The U.S., which sees better relations between the two countries as key to checking China in the region, welcomed the deal. “We applaud the leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea for having the courage and vision to reach this agreement, and we call on the international community to support it,” said Secretary of State John Kerry.
The agreement involved concessions by both sides. Japan has previously maintained that all issues of compensation to South Koreans for the war were resolved when it restored diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1965. In the current deal it edged away from that position by agreeing to fund a South Korean foundation to aid the women forced into servitude, while also insisting the money didn’t represent direct compensation for wrongdoing.
Related Video
Young South Korean students are learning about the Japanese military’s use of “comfort women,” or forced prostitutes, in the 1930s and 1940s. Photo: Reuters
By apologizing, Mr. Abe also went further than his government has previously. The prime minister made a direct apology, expressed both in a statement by his foreign minister and in a telephone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
“Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women,” the statement said.
The statement also acknowledged Japanese government involvement in the comfort women program, a point Mr. Abe and conservatives in his ruling party have frequently questioned.
Still, some in Korea called Mr. Abe’s statement inadequate. The Korean Council for Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery, which represents some former sex slaves, said the agreement didn’t make clear enough that the recruitment of the women “was a crime done by the Japanese government and military systematically.” It said Japan should directly compensate the women instead of creating a fund to do so.
The council also objected to Seoul’s promise that it would consider removing a statue of a girl in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul that commemorates the women’s suffering. Tokyo has called the statue an affront.
The group called the deal “humiliating” and said Seoul “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement].” Some comfort women told Korean media they would accept the compromise.
RELATED COVERAGE
Japan and Korea Have Long Disputed ‘Comfort Women’
Full Text: Japan-South Korea Statement on ‘Comfort Women’
Ms. Park and Mr. Abe spoke by phone for about 15 minutes after the deal. Ms. Park said she hoped the accord would turn into “a precious opportunity to restore the honor and dignity of the victims” and “build trust to bring in a new relationship” between the two countries.
Mr. Abe took office in December 2012 and Ms. Park two months later. Since then, the two sides have engaged in almost continuous squabbling on the international stage, devoting considerable diplomatic effort to seemingly minor battles such as whether textbooks in the state of Virginia should refer to the body of water between them as the Sea of Japan or the East Sea.
Monday’s deal includes a promise by both sides to stop criticizing each other in such forums and says the comfort-women issue has been “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
The agreement represents a relief for U.S. diplomats who have wrung their hands over the dispute between the two U.S. allies. President Barack Obama brought Ms. Park and Mr. Abe together for a three-way meeting in Europe in March 2014, but the two Asian leaders barely looked at other.
The State Department’s top official for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said in May that “tension between those two friends constitutes a strategic liability to all of us”—one of many occasions, both public and private, in which U.S. diplomats urged Japan and South Korea to reach an agreement like the one announced Monday.
Photos: Japan, South Korea Reach Accord on ‘Comfort Women’
A look at the women, the protests and the memorials for them.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1.
Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul.
Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
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South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss ... Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
The U.S. wasn’t a formal party to the talks, although Mr. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Kerry and other senior officials advised and supported both sides in reaching agreement in bilateral and trilateral meetings. “We’ve worked quietly, where possible, to prevent or resolve misunderstandings between the two,” a senior State Department official said.
The official said the U.S. sees the accord as being “as strategically consequential” as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal agreement reached in October, adding it would promote “a stable, prosperous and happy East Asia.”
The U.S. and Mr. Abe both want to form a stronger front against China, which has territorial ambitions in the region and has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claims in the South China Sea. Ms. Park has shown more sympathy to Beijing, appearing with Chinese President Xi Jinping at events denouncing Japan’s view of history.
The first major sign of progress came in November, when Mr. Abe and Ms. Park met in Seoul and agreed to seek an early resolution. Both sides had hoped for a deal in 2015, the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties.
Concern about business ties may have helped prompt Monday’s reconciliation. Between 2012 and 2014, two-way trade fell 17% and the number of Japanese travelers to Korea dropped 35%.
“Japanese companies have become reluctant to talk about their business in South Korea,” said Hidehiko Mukoyama, an analyst at Japan Research Institute. “They want to locate where they can operate most efficiently. But the disputes have made it difficult to do so.”
There are 46 elderly Korean “comfort women” known to be alive. No reliable records are known to exist on how many women were involved, but mainstream historians’ estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000. Former comfort women have consistently said females as young as teenagers were coerced or tricked into joining brothels serving Japanese soldiers.
The agreement marks a significant step, but it is too early to assess its impact, said Robert Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan National University in South Korea.
“Historical grievances, particularly over the comfort women, are deeply ingrained in South Korea,” he said. “There will be a lot of people who won’t accept the deal.”
Disputes over other legacies of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula also hamper ties, including ongoing legal action by Koreans used as forced laborers by Tokyo, as well as descriptions in school textbooks in both countries of the colonial period, which ended in 1945.
Elements of Monday’s deal echo Japanese actions two decades ago. In 1993, Japan issued a statement extending its “sincere apologies and remorse” to the women, and later in the decade it established a fund to help the women. However, that fund used private donations.
—Felicia Schwartz in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com and Alexander Martin at alexander.martin@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
A council representing some former sex slaves said the Korean government “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement]” with Japan. Earlier versions of this story incorrectly quoted the council as saying Korea gave a peck and got a bushel. There are four pecks in a bushel. (Dec. 28, 2015)
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There are 84 comments.
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OldestReader RecommendedLarry Chang
Larry Chang 2 days ago
Kuchita's argument about South China Seas territorial claims is half truth/half false one. It is not just historical issue, it is a continuous sovereignty act all along. For example, right after the War China measured and mapped the area and established a post on one of those islands to maintain its claim under KMT administration.
If we go along with Kuchta's logic, then Israel should have returned all its territories to Palestinians since the latter took over the land 2,000 years ago.
Now it is time to overhaul international rules on a fair and justice way, not based on unilateral Western colonial and biased so called philosophy. And Americans should respect other peoples rights and sphere of influence, otherwise there will be no end of killings and wars. The era of America hegemony is over.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
It took Japan 75 years to agree to compensate the Korean women that they terribly treated during WWII. That it took so long for the Japanese admit that they did this, apologize, and compensate the victims speaks very negatively on the Japanese culture.
JEFFREY DUGAS
JEFFREY DUGAS 3 days ago
Imperial Japan does not exist, and has not existed since the end of WWII. Virtually all of the former leaders of the defunct empire are long dead. The perpetrator of said crimes no longer exists. There should be no compensation. If you disagree, I'm sure we can dig up some crime that your great great grandfather perpetrated, and demand a fine from you via taxation. Time to live in the present.
David Corwin
David Corwin 4 days ago
Wow, a wopping $8M for 200,000 victims! The comes out to $40 a person. Is it the going rate for street walker in Japan nowadays? What do the Japanese think they are dealing with here?!
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@David Corwin Actually, the ca. $8M is for the 46 surviving women. In that regard, it is a nontrivial sum.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta would you take the deal if you were one of the 46 survivors who had to go through those horrible things and live with it for over 70 years?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Yes, I absolutely would take the money. Horrible things happen in war, but it is time to put the past to bed. I am a firm believer that if you keep living in the past you have no future.
The past should be used to prepare for the future, not to dictate the future (or even the present).
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta the money is not the issue here, the real issue is the sincerity of the Japanese government. If you can't face the history, can't correct the past mistakes, there is no future what so ever.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta I agree with you latter statement completely. My own view, is that most Japanese (but certainly not some fanatical nationalists in Japan) have faced the past and learned from it. Currently, Japan is very far removed from the militarist past and is a well functioning democracy.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I know we are moving far away from the original discussion by starting this philosophical debate, but I have a question. How is it the past does not dictate the present or future?
Again, I know this is very off-base from the purpose of the article, but your comment here sparked my curiosity. Have a safe and happy new year, Mr. Kuchta.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I guess what always bothers me about this issue is how some individuals, and countries, will use events that occurred long, long ago (but not necessarily far, far away!) to dictate their current lives or policies. Examples include: (1) China's claim to all of the South China Sea based on ancient history; (2) Some friends who can't stand Germany or Germans because of what the Nazi's did in WW2, even though there are virtually no Nazi's left alive and todays Germans are several generations removed from the Nazi's; (3) The continuing instability in the Balkan states that, near as I can tell, is based on wars fought 100+ years ago. (4) Many aspects of "victimology" i.e., the feeling of some people that "I am not doing well because of what was done to my parents/grandparents/great grandparents/etc."
We should learn from these actions of the past, not let them cloud our current judgement.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta I think the examples you listed here are not relevant to the issue we were discussing. I am a Chinese, and I personal do not totally agree with what China is doing near the South China Sea. But the WWII it's not a dispute, and the damage is much worse than some countries fighting over some fishing territory. Also, I'm sure there are some people are still hateful but majority of the world has no problems with the Germans as they've sincerely faced the history and the mistakes they've made in the past. I personally have no issues against Japanese citizens either, I have plenty Japanese friends myself. My issue is with the Japanese gov, who has never officially apologize for the crimes of WW2 or punished the war criminals who killed millions of innocent people. Instead, they warship the killers in a temple and the their leaders go to honor them after taking over office. That's what I, and a lot of other Asian people, have always had issues with
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta
Nor has China apologized for their atrocities against American and allied prisoners of war in the Korean conflict. As you can see, very few are totally innocent in war.
Can we all move along now?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Nevin Taylor @Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Great post! The last 6 words of your post summarize my view on this perfectly.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta The war shrine in Japan is a tricky issue. Nominally, it is a memorial to all of the soldiers who died in WW2. However, that necessarily includes some of the leaders who started the war and/or committed various atrocities as well as the low level Japanese soldiers sent to their deaths by these very same leaders. Thus, I don't think that there is a clear right or wrong answer to a generic memorial.
My including the South China Sea issue is the problem of countries making any sort of claim based on ancient history. Just as China today is claiming the South China Sea based on certain dates in history, other countries could probably make the same claim based on other dates. Given the history of how often countries have started wars for economic reasons, this seems like a recipe for war given the economic value of the South China Sea.
Hans Vincent
Hans Vincent 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang
Robert that is true. But will Japan also give up it's claims on a lot of islands it claims/occupied based on it's supposed historical data?will Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines? This is the Dilemma. While the West tends to demonize China, all their accusations on China are very much applicable on itself and a lot of nations including its allies in Asia and in the western hemisphere. Michael Phelps can easily swim from the coast of Taiwan to the island of Diaoyu yet the U.S just lets Japan occupy it despite Taiwan also being an "ally". The only way one can say with authority that these islands should be owned by no one is to apply it to all which will not happen just as the U.S will not leave its bases around Cuba.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Andrew Poplaski Thank you for your response, Mr. Kuchta. After reading your examples, I understand the context of your previous statement. I wish you a healthy new year.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta And to you as well!
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @David Corwin They Japanese should have compensated the surviving victims 70 years ago when more of them were alive.
Adrian Davis
Adrian Davis 4 days ago
Hopefully, we (the U.S.) won't get a guilty conscious and start ponying up for our wrong doings throughout history. We would have hell to pay and I am all out of saying sorry for our ancestors. A higher power has to deal with them.
John Shniper
John Shniper 4 days ago
Way too little, way too late! Japan's arrogance about its Mass Atrocities in WWII which took as many lives as Nazi Germany's continues. The real loser is Japan's stature in the world.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@John Shniper The Germans have made a much greater effort to apologize and compensate their victims. That the Japanese have stonewalled this issue for 70 years speaks poorly of their culture.
TED CHYN
TED CHYN 4 days ago
The dislike between Korea and Japan are historical brought about by many invasions perpetrated by Japanese government notably the invasion by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1592 and many encroachments and intrusions by Japanese pirates. The Japanese aggression led to the eventual colonization of Korea in the late 20th century.Under the occupation, the Japanese had not only subjugated the Korean nationhood but also suppressed the usage of Korea language and forced the Korean to change their Korean household sir name. All these historical enmities with the lighting-rod issue of comfort women are settled by a paltry sum of 8 million after years of political haggling make one wonder there are bigger stories behind the two ministers shaking hand on stage.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
Where did the USA troops in the Pacific get their comfort women?
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins
James,
I suggest you watch the HBO miniseries "The Pacific". At the beginning of each episode there is a short interview with the men who served there. I'm sure if you ask one of them that question they would punch you in the face.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information. Years ago, perhaps 60 or so I had read about the "aid" stations set up for USA forces....was it true ? One doesn't look for violence in a free society when asking a serious question.
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
Yes, far better than violence is to make insinuation against men who can't defend themselves against your baseless and deliberately incendiary conjecture.
What's it like working for Al Jazeera by the way?
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon Would volunteer "aid" stations be wrong? Why a defense?
Katie Goldstein
Katie Goldstein 4 days ago
My grandfather was a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps on the island of Tinian from 1944 through the end of the war and served under General Curtis LeMay. While he said there were no women, I can assure you he realized much comfort from serving in support of the missions carried out by the Enola Gay and Bocks Car.
Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @James Ewins @Timothy Boucher Actually, if you read the dozens of books written by US veterans of all branches, but particularly the Marines, you'll read that they fought in places with small or no indigenous populations. What happened time after time was that Marines would invade a Japanese held island, the Japanese would be wiped out and the Marines would be left on the island afterward while the high command arranged for bringing in new recruits, replacing lost/destroyed equipment, etc. for the next campaign/battle. One, but not the only, example of excellent first hand accounts is Eugene B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa." He actually expends considerable ink in the book discussing how the isolation on sparsely populated islands after fierce battles with the Japanese affected young Marines' morale and their attitudes toward the war and the Japanese in general.
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
"Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information."
Did you miss the part about the interviews with the veterans who were actually there? Anyhow, not sure if you were (hopefully) joking or not, but those guys went through hell for an honorable cause. Your "question" was offensive.
Eric Mao
Eric Mao 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher @James Ewins Timothy, in my view James's is a serious question that Americans don't want to touch. Let's not pretend American young men didn't have needs. Further, exactly because they were going through hell and any moment could be their last, the needs might become even more urgent. Both American and Japanese soldiers went through hell in the Pacific, and, on the battlefield, you fight for your buddies on your left and right, regardless whether your nation is at war for an honorable cause. It would bring me comfort if I learned American troops had a way to relieve their sexual pressure during the Pacific War.
Anthony Aaron
Anthony Aaron 4 days ago
@James Ewins
As a Marine who became a POW in a Japanese camp for more than 2 1/2 years, my uncle had no comfort of any kind during that time - let alone women.
The same with my great-grandfather who was a POW in Siberia for 12 years after he was captured during WW1 - no comfort there, either.
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins Philippines and they continue to do so as we speak!!
Jacob Mathews
Jacob Mathews 4 days ago
At least now the Japanese agreed to compensate these women in distress.
Hope the healing will take place after all the cruelty of World War Two
Let Korea and Japan could come to a better relationship after this settlement,but the scars will be there till death for these women.
Bill Fotsch
Bill Fotsch 4 days ago
$8million dollars for 20,000 to 200,000 women forced into prostitution? This would be a settlement for 1 woman in the US with a decent attorney. This was clearly an agreement that enables both governments to save face, having nothing to do with restitution for the woman involved. Given the time that has past, it seems to be a good effort to put this behind both companies. The important thing it seems to lack is a formal, public apology by the Japanese government.
Dongwoo Park
Dongwoo Park 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch This is exactly how most of Koreans think
Robert Cochran
Robert Cochran 4 days ago
My guess is that the settlement is for the 46 remaining alive.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer have each probably paid $8MM to hookers in their lifetimes (so far) and associated legal fees. Come to think of it, lawyers are pretty much legal prostitutes.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch
Oh sure. As if prostitutes don't have a bad enough reputation already, now your associating them with lawyers.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Chuck Roehrich @Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch Touche'
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch there is plenty of guilt to go around in WWII...on all sides.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch But not in equal amounts.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@David Jensen Historians tend not to be good at numbers...or being objective. Remember FDR set up the Japanese by embargoing oil.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen At the time FDR declared the embargo, the Japanese army had been killing the Chinese for years and had just invaded Indochina in an effort to stop the flow of supplies to the Chinese army.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-freezes-japanese-assets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Manchuria
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
You don't read much do you??
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
Not only WWII...
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch True but it depends who the victims are! In Iraq, families were compensated $1500 for loved ones killed by US soldiers and Libya paid $10 million for each victim of Pan Am 103!! It is all relative. And now Iran will compensate Americans for captivity in Tehran in 1979!!!!
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch
While I agree with your assessment, I don't know the monetary value to be placed on innocence, or dignity. Also, who collects? The victims have for the most part "gone above". Should the money go to their heirs? Why? What did they suffer? It seems to me the situation has devolved into recognition, and symbolic contrition. Given the circumstances, that will have to be enough.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @Bill Fotsch Why do we build memorials for the victims of holocaust and relive the most excruciating moments again and again - no monetary compensation is enough to teach the generations that have not faced the evil as those who have. If there is any remorse and truly feel the guilt from the perpetrators they should be the ones to lead the effort to memorialize the crimes committed against these women in the first place. Germany champions as its leadership stands to criticize Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for moving the blame away from Hitler and incorrectly placing it to the Palestinian grand Mufti for holocaust.
Mark Alan Harris
Mark Alan Harris 4 days ago
Well, the WWII ended 70 years ago. All of these women would have to be in their 80s or 90s. Is the money going to them or their families? To paraphrase a current candidate for President, "what difference does it make?"
The time for reparations to these women is long past. This should have been cleaned-up as part of the surrender treaty or during the years immediately following while the U.S. had great influence over Japan.
This is another sad paragraph in the chapter of human cruelty.
Winnie Holden
Winnie Holden 4 days ago
@Mark Alan Harris and it's so sad these women have to spend the past 70 years living in the shadow of these horrible memories....
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
For the 20 years following the surrender, Japan couldn't take care of its own veterans or their families. I remember seeing these men wearing bleached white uniforms, singing and playing musical instruments at the entrances to shrines in various cities. They had to beg for donations.
Elderly parents and grandparents who had lost their sons in the war were warehoused in "orphanages" with next to nothing to survive on. My dad's Tokyo Masonic lodge, made up of mostly WW II veterans, adopted one of these orphanages, providing groceries and charcoal bought at the Army Commissary and PX.
Rosemary Abbott
Rosemary Abbott 4 days ago
@Eric Davis
This is PC on steroids. Oh boo-hoo for your poor WWII Japanese former soldiers...they sure didn't bring pain to anyone during the war. Did they.
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
@Rosemary Abbott @Eric Davis
Sorry you were offended, Rosemary.
My intent was to show the war's horrors lasted for decades afterward.
Alexis Hatch
Alexis Hatch 4 days ago
How can $8 mil after 70 years be anything but an insult. Really??? Either offer no money (but make a deep and humbling public apology) or make it a real number.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Alexis Hatch If there is any lessons to be learned from the atrocities of war inflicted on humanity we are leaving a legacy of mockery on humanity for the future generations to come. After allowing virtually all war criminals to go unpunished because the emperor Hirohito had to be saved under Douglas MacArthur's decree, the burden of unpaid injustice had to be born by the generations of innocent many.
john boeger
john boeger 4 days ago
@ISAAC KIM @Alexis Hatch i think that our president truman made that decision.
Douglas Fox
Douglas Fox 4 days ago
It never ceases to amaze me about the injustices that are committed by men in this world. The resolution of this has taken 70 years. The Chinese women were also abused by the Japanese and who knows or has reported on the atrocities committed by Hussein to his Iraqi people
D Dykes
D Dykes 4 days ago
Sad what humans will do to each other. Truly a broken world.
Nate Smith
Nate Smith 4 days ago
Now that they are dead or 90 ,great timing .
RONALD WONG
RONALD WONG 4 days ago
At least 40 years too late.
Don Brazier
Don Brazier 4 days ago
>>>Observers say the two were under mounting pressure to come to a resolution from Washington<<<
If they did it because the US was twisting their arms you can question the sincerity of the two countries.
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