Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　　　　　Japan and South Korea have agreed on a “final, irreversible solution” to the issue of comfort women. Previous false Japanese press reports and the Japanese government’s easy apology led the comfort women problem to become a diplomatic issue. To truly resolve the problem, the two countries must face the “inconvenient truth” that comfort women represented a tragedy caused by wartime poverty. The latest agreement lacks this point. The accord represents nothing more than a diplomatic concession to improve bilateral relations and leaves the problem to be raised in the future again.

Necessity to create special unit for international PR
　　　　　In early 1990s after then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa repeated apologies over the problem, senior Korean intellectuals said: “What the hell are the Japanese and Korean governments doing? There was no coercive recruitment of comfort women. Korea was then poor. Korean sex brokers took daughters of poor families for loans. The Japanese military had never forced them to become comfort women.” I cannot forget the remark. They might be surprised at the hypocritical agreement.
　　　　　For Japan, the comfort women problem cannot be resolved without the restoration of its honor impaired by false reports. As far as Japan and South Korea have agreed to refrain from criticizing each other over the problem at international arena such as the United Nations, Japan could lose an opportunity to make fact-based assertions. If so, the latest agreement could block the true resolution of the problem.
　　　　　Given that the Abe administration has refrained from making fact-based assertions on comfort women and other history problems under the guidance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we must seriously consider how to reconstruct the government’s international communications arrangements. In this respect, the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals plans to make a policy proposal calling for establishing a special unit that would be independent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and continuously make international communications to duly assert Japan’s positions.

Is the “irreversible solution” true?
　　　　　Meanwhile, Japan’s improvement of relations with South Korea serves Japanese national interests because the two countries have formed military alliances with the United States. But the precondition for the improvement is that the final, irreversible solution that the Japanese side has demanded as the minimum condition be realized. Regrettably, the realization is uncertain. We cannot assess the latest agreement before seeing future developments.
　　　　　Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida failed to clarify in Seoul that the Japanese government’s responsibility he admitted does not include any legal responsibility. Given that the Japanese government has not changed its position that the problem has been resolved under the Japan-South Korea Basic Treaty and Claims Agreement, the clarification may be made in Japan later. Then, South Korean general public may criticize the clarification as absurd, leading the next South Korean administration to raise the problem again.
　　　　　On the Japan-requested removal of a comfort woman statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, the South Korean government promised to make appropriate efforts. But the South Korean organization that erected the statue and public opinions are unlikely to accept the removal. The South Korean organization has issued a statement refusing to remove the statue. Then, Japanese public opinions may raise an objection to the refusal. The problem will thus fail to be resolved.

Tsutomu Nishioka is Planning Committee Member, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, and Professor at Tokyo Christian University.