Flagrant denial of history

Japan should not distort facts about sexual slaves


Japan has again gone too far in distorting historical facts about its mobilization of Korean women as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. This time the country is arguing against defining such women as "sex slaves," a move apparently aimed at denying the country's crimes against humanity.

According to a report by Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its Diplomatic Bluebook 2019 that the term "sex slaves" should not be used as it "contradicted" the facts. The ministry even claimed South Korea confirmed Japan's position when the two countries struck their controversial "comfort women" deal in December 2015. It pointed out that the deal did not use the ｅxpression.

Tokyo must have made a unilateral claim. According to a 2017 report by a South Korean fact-finding mission on the deal, Seoul never agreed to the Japanese stance that "sex slaves" was an inaccurate ｅxpression. The report said the Korean side was opposed to Japan's demand not to use the term because it had already been widely accepted in the international community. Instead of accepting the reckless demand, Seoul clarified that its official ｅxpression was "comfort women victims for Japanese troops."

Therefore it is wrong for Tokyo to maintain that Seoul had agreed not to use term "sex slaves." Japan's Diplomatic Bluebook 2018 did not contain such a claim, only saying it would continue to explain its position against using the term. This is the first time that Japan has argued the Korean government accepted its position.

The previous Park Geunhye administration might have made a mistake of explicitly opposing the Japanese demand, in a bid to agree on the deal to resolve the issue of comfort women, a euphemism for sex slaves. After President Moon Jaein took office in May 2017 in the wake of Park's ouster in a massive corruption scandal, the new government virtually nullified the deal due to Japan's lack of an apology for its past crimes.

What's notable is that the blatant Japanese claim comes amid the bilateral trade and diplomatic dispute over another historical issue: wartime forced labor. The nationalist Shinzo Abe government imposed export restrictions on three key materials essential for Korean firms manufacturing semiconductors and display panels in July. It also removed Korea from its "whitelist" of favored trading partners in August. These trade measures were apparently in retaliation to rulings by Korea's Supreme Court that ordered Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims forced to work for them during wartime.

We urge Japan to acknowledge and apologize for what it did to Koreans and others in the first half of the 20th century. The more it tries to hide or distort its shameful history, the more it loses its reputation and credibility. There will be no genuine reconciliation between perpetrators and victims as long as either of them refuses to face up to history squarely.