The 2015 South Korean–Japanese Agreement on ‘Comfort Women’: A Critical Analysis

What is it about?

Before and during the Second World War, Japan established a legalised system of sexual slavery, in which more than 200,000 women were exploited, the majority of them being South Korean. These abuses failed to be addressed for decades, mainly because the Japanese government denied the crimes it had perpetuated and refused to ensure reparations for the victims. A seemingly positive step was taken on December 28th 2015 when South Korea and Japan announced that they had reached an agreement which 'finally and irreversibly' resolved this issue. The main argument developed in this article is that the agreement does not do justice in properly addressing the victims' needs and rights in many ways, with the need for acknowledgment and memorialisation being particularly neglected. There are only 20 Korean victims alive, with an average age of 90, who claim that the Japanese government is waiting for them to die so that the issue disappears. Given that the group of survivors is decreasing, there is a particular pressing need for the victims' voices to be channeled in as many platforms as possible for their rights not to be forgotten beneath the veil of time.

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