President Lee Announces that Forced Labor and Comfort Women Deals with Japan will Remain in Place

This is actually a little surprising to me that President Lee did not hedge on maintaining the forced labor and comfort women agreements with Japan. It is good to see that he is maintaining policy consistency between governments. We will see what happens in the future though when he needs a distraction from some domestic political scandal of some kind. It always seems like that is the time ROK politicians play the anti-Japan card:

On relations with Japan, Lee said his government will uphold past agreements on the issues of wartime forced labor and former sex slave for Japanese troops, euphemistically called “comfort women.”

“It is very difficult for the South Korean people to accept these agreements,” he said in the interview. “But as they are promises made between countries, it would be undesirable to overturn them.”

Although Lee had previously criticized the agreements, he said that as president he intends to honor them in the interest of bilateral relations, noting his dual responsibility to ensure policy consistency and maintain national trust while also considering the views of the Korean public, victims and their bereaved families.

He also expressed hope that Seoul and Tokyo can confront painful historical issues squarely and move relations forward.

Yonhap

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