Japanese lawmakers and citizens supporting efforts to win redress for former sex slaves vowed Feb. 5 to work closely with their South Korean counterparts to push for passage of a compensation law for the aging victims.
Three South Korean lawmakers and representatives of citizens' groups were visiting Japan to exchange ideas with Japanese lawmakers. They are studying how to get the government to compensate the women, who were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers at wartime frontline brothels.
The South Korean delegation, as well as the Japanese group, which hosted the meeting Feb. 5 in Nagatacho, Tokyo, oppose the government-initiated Asian Women's Fund's aid project, demanding the women be compensated directly and individually by the Japanese government. They do not define the "atonement money" from the fund as compensation.
The delegates stressed that passing a law mandating individual compensation to the victims and the discovery of facts about the wartime practice is the only way the women can restore their dignity. "Japan should be a morally advanced country," said Lee Bu Young, vice president of the opposition Democratic Party. "It cannot get close to Asian people if it remains an economic and political power only."
About 10 Japanese lawmakers from various parties, including the Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party, attended the meeting. They expressed their determination to try to push a compensation bill through in future Diet sessions, though they admitted the bill would not pass easily.