S. Korea 'Comfort Woman' Statue Angers Japan

Tokyo recalls ambassador, suspends economic talks
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 7, 2017 7:04 AM CST
S. Korea 'Comfort Woman' Statue Angers Japan
South Korean women wearing traditional dress pay theirs respects to a "comfort-woman" statue set up in front of the Japanese consulate in Busan, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.   (Kim Sun-ho/Yonhap via AP)

Japan announced Friday that it would recall its ambassador to South Korea and suspend economic talks in response to the placing of a "comfort woman" statue representing wartime sex slaves in front of its consulate in the Korean port city of Busan, the AP reports. Both Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine in Seoul and the consul-general in Busan will be temporarily recalled, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Many Koreans were among the estimated 200,000 women forced into sexual slavery in front-line brothels for the Japanese military during World War II in what was called the "comfort woman" system.

Suga called the placing of the statue "extremely regrettable," since Japan and South Korea had reached what was supposed to be a final agreement to resolve long-standing differences over the issue in late 2015. He said that Japan would suspend some ongoing negotiations with South Korea, including a proposed currency swap arrangement for times of financial crisis. South Korean activists opposed to the 2015 agreement installed the statue in Busan late last month, one year after the pact was reached. A similar statue by the same sculptor has stood in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul since 2011. The South Korean Foreign Ministry called Japan's decision to recall its ambassador "very regrettable." (More comfort women stories.)

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