Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 6 - 12 TOP3 [HISTORY]

Shii calls for Japan-S. Korea talks on ‘comfort women’ issue

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in the JCP 6th Central Committee Plenum on February 9 said that the Japanese government should negotiate with South Korea on the wartime sex slave issue based on a bilateral agreement.

The South Korean government has repeatedly called on Japan to hold talks on former comfort women’s right to claim compensation based on the Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Co-operation between Japan and the Republic of Korea signed in 1965.

The Japanese government, however, has shown refusal to respond to the request from South Korea in accordance with the recognition that “the issue of right to claim compensation was already resolved.”

Shii cited Article 3, Section 1 of the 1965 agreement which states, “Any dispute between the Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation and implementation of the present Agreement shall be settled, first of all, through diplomatic channels.”

“Following the provision, the Japanese government should start negotiation with its counterpart in a sincere manner without delay,” he added.