Japan has demanded that South Korea remove monuments set up at home and abroad to mark the victims of the Japanese Imperial Army’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, government sources said Sunday.
The demand was made during the two countries’ monthly director-general level talks launched earlier this year to resolve thorny bilateral issues, including the so-called comfort women issue. The neighbors held the fifth round of the talks last week.
During the talks, the Japanese side demanded that Seoul remove a statue of a girl in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and other monuments in several U.S. states, set up to commemorate the comfort women victims, according to the government sources.
Seoul, however, reacted negatively, saying that the government cannot demolish monuments that were installed by private groups through donations, the sources noted.
“If Japan resolves the military comfort women issue, it will naturally influence the (monument building) movement by private groups, and it is not something that the (South Korean) government could guarantee,” a high-ranking government official said. “Our position is that Japan should come up with resolutions that can appease the victims,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment