Comment on President Moon’s Remark on the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation during the Korea-Japan Summit

[Comment on President Moon’s Remark on the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation during the Korea-Japan Summit]

The Korean government must disband the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation immediately and make every possible effort to restore the dignity and human rights of the Japanese military sexual slavery victims!

President Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Abe attended a bilateral summit on September 25th, during their visit to New York for United Nations General Assembly.

In reply to Prime Minister Abe’s urge for implementation of the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement, President Moon said, the “Reconciliation and Healing Foundation has failed to function properly due to objections from the “comfort women” survivors and the public”, and thus calls for “a judicious conclusion”.

Yoon, Mee-hyang, representative of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, recognized the remark as late in coming, but still a representation that the government recognized the call for disbandment of Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, which was continuously voiced by Kim Bok-dong halmoni and citizens including actor Kim Eui-sung.

Reconciliation and Healing Foundation was founded after the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement that President Moon himself assessed as an agreement that excluded the victims, seriously flawed in both its procedures and contents, and violated the principles of truth and justice, and thus cannot be a resolution for the Japanese military ‘comfort women’ issue. Therefore, disbandment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is the first step to nullification of the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement and just resolution of the Japanese military sexual slavery issue. President Moon’s recent remark implying disbandment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is not separate from a declaration that the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement is invalid.

Now the tasks for the Moon government are 1) to immediately establish and implement measures to disband the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation and return the Japanese government’s consolation fund of 10 billion yen that was allocated from the government budget and 2) to implement every possible measure to restore the dignity and human rights of the Japanese military sexual slavery victims based on victim-centered approach, as promised during the announcement of the review taskforce for the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement.

The Japanese government must cease its demand for implementation of the 2015 Korea-Japan Agreement that violated international human rights principles, but follow the recommendations issued by the United Nations human rights organizations, including the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Japanese government must make every possible effort to resolve the Japanese military sexual slavery issue based on victim-centered approach.

September 26th, 2018 The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan