国际英语资讯:S. Korea to dissolve Japan-funded foundation for wartime sex slavery victims_时事

国际英语资讯:S. Korea to dissolve Japan-funded foundation for wartime sex slavery victims

The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to do it.

In 2018, six former South Korean sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, passed away. Among 240 comfort women victims, who identified themselves as former sex slaves, only 27 are still alive in South Korea.

The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation has paid 4.4 billion won (3.9 million U.S. dollars) in compensation to 34 comfort women victims and the bereaved families of 58 late victims.

However, they refused to receive any money from the Japan-funded foundation and called for Japan to sincerely apologize and acknowledge its legal responsibility for the wartime crime against humanities.

The operation of the foundation actually stopped late last year as all of the civilian board members quitted from the fund.

Regarding the remaining fund of the foundation, the ministry said it will collect opinions from the victims and civic groups to handle the fund in a reasonable way.

The Foreign Ministry would reportedly seek to consult with Japan on ways to handle the 1-billion-yen fund. Advocacy groups have demanded returning all the money to Japan.

Jin Sun-mee, minister of gender equality and family, said the ministry will make utmost efforts for policies to recover the honor and dignity of the comfort women victims.

The Seoul decision to close down the Tokyo-funded foundation was forecast to add a strain on the already soured bilateral relations following the South Korean top court's ruling on the wartime forced labor.