'Comfort women' survivors down to nine after death

Another former "comfort woman" in Korea died on Tuesday, bringing down the number of survivors of Japanese wartime sexual slavery to nine. “The news of another ‘comfort woman’ victim passing away is very heartbreaking,” said Kim Hyun-sook…

Statues representing Korean victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery stand at a community center for the victims in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, on Wednesday. Each statue has been made posthumously for the victims. [NEWS1]

Another former "comfort woman" in Korea died on Tuesday, bringing down the number of survivors of Japanese wartime sexual slavery to nine.

"The news of another 'comfort woman' victim passing away is very heartbreaking," said Kim Hyun-sook, minister of gender equality and family, in a statement. "May she rest in peace now.

"The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will carefully look after the victims so that they can spend the rest of their lives comfortably, while continuing to carry out commemorative projects to restore the honor and dignity of the victims," Kim said.

Of around 240 women registered with the government as comfort women victims, or women who were forced into sexual slavery by imperial Japan during the Second World War, a total of nine survive today, according to the ministry.

All of them are aged over 90, it said.

The ministry did not release the identification details of the comfort woman victim who died Tuesday, at the request of her relatives.

Historians have estimated that from tens of thousands to up to 410,000 women, many of them Korean descent, were forcibly recruited for sexual slavery by imperial Japan.

The issue of comfort women and their compensation has been one of several to spark disputes between Korea and Japan in recent years, alongside those on forced labor victims and over sovereignty of the Dokdo islets.

A landmark deal was announced between Korea and Japan on the issue in 2015 during a previous conservative government led by Park Geun-hye.

In what was dubbed a "final and irreversible" deal signed on Dec. 26, 2015, the Japanese government apologized and provided 1-billion-yen ($7.35 million) into a Korean fund to compensate victims.

Some 4.4 billion won ($3.2 million) of the fund had been issued as compensation to around 90 victims and their relatives, before the liberal administration led by Moon Jae-in decided to pull the plug on the deal, citing discontent from the victims.

At the time when the 2015 deal was announced, there was a divided response among the comfort women victims and their families, with several survivors expressing strong opposition and others voicing their acceptance of the bilateral agreement.

The issue has been divisive in Korean courts as well.

Comfort women victims and their relatives have sued the Japanese government for compensation. In one case, 12 victims sued and won in January 2021, but in another case, a group of victims sued and lost.

Both cases were drawn-out affairs, however, with the Japanese government insisting on state immunity.

With the foundation established to distribute the fund going defunct in 2018, some civic groups including the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan have been urging the government to return the left-over fund to the state treasury.

The Foreign Ministry said last month that the specific uses of the remaining fund have yet to be decided.

"The foundation is in the process of being liquidated, and we are collecting opinions from different sectors and stakeholders so that the remaining fund can be used in line with the intention of the comfort women agreement," said Lim Soo-suk, spokesman of the Korean Foreign Ministry in a press briefing on April 11.

There has been speculation that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may broach the subject with President Yoon Suk Yeol during his visit to Korea coming Sunday to Monday and request the Yoon government to officially acknowledge the 2015 deal.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]