By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) – South Korea may move past wartime issues with Japan by respecting a 2015 deal on the issue of "comfort women."
On an official visit to Tokyo, South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin revealed his government's intention to respect the bilateral agreement to settle the issue of Korean women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.
He made the comments during a meeting with Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday, according to Tokyo-based Kyodo News.
Park held talks with his counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday and called on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday.
Tokyo claims that all colonial-era issues, including individual compensation, were settled with a treaty signed in 1965.
The issue of “comfort women”, however, returned to haunt the two Asia-Pacific nations -- both close allies of the US in the region -- with bilateral relations spiraling down resulting in economic restrictions on the two sides.
During the administration of President Moon Jae-in, South Korean courts also ordered Japanese firms of paying compensation to kin of the "comfort women." However, they rejected individual lawsuits against the Japanese firms.
“It cannot be said that individual claims are terminated or waived due to the Korea-Japan treaty. But it was decided that the individual rights cannot be exercised through lawsuits," one court in Seoul had ruled.
Such moves had left the landmark deal to “finally and irreversibly” settle the “comfort women” issue effectively scrapped.
On Monday, Park and Hayashi agreed to “seek a quick settlement of the dispute over compensation demands from South Koreans related to wartime labor.”
Park also assured to “make efforts to produce desirable solutions before the asset liquidation”, however, Tokyo opposes the move saying “the liquidation must be avoided as it will have serious consequences for Japan-South Korea relations.”