Japan envoy recalled over statue flap to return to S. Korea

Kishida said Japan regrets that South Korea has not complied with what was supposed to be a final agreement to resolve their differences over the comfort woman issue in late 2015, and that the ambassador will work to make sure the new administration respects the deal. He acknowledged the recall of Japan’s ambassador had not helped resolve the deadlock.

“The agreement is a promise that the two countries made to international society. We must sincerely implement it,” Kishida said.

Activists in South Korea oppose the agreement. A comfort woman statue put up outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in 2011 remains in place, and activists installed a similar statue by the same sculptor outside of Japan’s consulate in Busan in December days after the agreement.

Japan recalled the ambassador and the consul-general in January in response to the placing of the statue outside the consulate.

Japanese officials said sending the envoys back did not mean Japan is caving in to South Korea’s refusal to remove the statue.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said other retaliatory actions, such as the suspension of some negotiations with South Korea including a proposed currency swap arrangement for times of financial crisis, will stay in place. He said sending back the envoys also reflects Japan’s concerns over the safety of Japanese citizens in South Korea “when the political situation is extremely uncertain.”

South Korea will hold an election on May 9 to elect a new president to replace Park, who was impeached and later arrested amid a corruption scandal.

Japan apologized in the 1990s over the sexual exploitation of the women, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government denies any forced prostitution occurred, citing what it says is a lack of documentary proof.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Japan envoy recalled over statue flap to return to S. Korea

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