Thursday marks one year since the Constitutional Court ruled that the government has been remiss in resolving the grievances of Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during the World War II. The Korean government has now decided to propose a mediating body between the two countries to resolve the issue.
A Foreign Ministry official on Sunday said, "After the Constitutional Court's last ruling, we sent diplomatic documents to Japan in September and November last year proposing bilateral talks to resolve the dispute in accordance with the treaty on settlement of claims, but we've heard noting back." The next step specified in the treaty is setting up a mediating body.
There will need to be some consultation with civic groups before the timing can be decided.
The official said the proposal is completely unrelated to the current disputes between the two over Dokdo. The issue of sexual slavery is "about women's rights and humanitarianism."
Japan says the claims of the victims were settled with the 1965 Korea-Japan normalization treaty, which stipulated massive one-off aid in return for a waiver.
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