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Seoul, Tokyo Fail to Settle Comfort Women Dispute at G20 Meeting

© AFP 2023 / JUNG YEON-JEA South Korean policeman walks past a statue (C) of a teenage girl in traditional costume called the "peace monument" for former "comfort women" who served as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on December 29, 2015.
A South Korean policeman walks past a statue (C) of a teenage girl in traditional costume called the peace monument for former comfort women who served as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on December 29, 2015. - Sputnik International
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South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers failed to settle the dispute over a monument dedicated to the so-called WWII comfort women in the South Korean city of Busan during Friday's bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bonn, media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — "Comfort women" is a term used to describe women forced to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese military during World War II. With the exact number of women involved in the practice still a subject of debate, most of the women were taken from countries occupied by Japan between 1932 and 1945, mainly Korea, China and the Philippines.

A flower is laid on a statue of a girl that represents the sexual victims by the Japanese military during a rally in front of Japanese Consulate in Busan, South Korea, December 30, 2016. Picture taken December 30, 2016 - Sputnik International
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'Comfort Women' Statue 'Undesirable' Outside Japan's Consulate - S Korean FM
"We explained our stance, while the Japanese side expressed regret over the installment of the statue and demanded our active efforts to resolve the issue," a South Korean governmental source told the Yonhap news agency on the condition of anonymity.

In December 2016, civic groups activists erected a monument, symbolizing comfort women in front of the Japanese General Consulate in Busan. To protest the statue, Japan has recalled its ambassador and consul general from South Korea for consultations and halted currency swap talks.

Tokyo wants the statue to be removed pointing out that it contradicts the spirit of the 2015 deal to resolve the comfort women issue. The agreement saw Japan apologize and give $9.61 million to a South Korean foundation for surviving victims of the practice and their families, while South Korea pledged to close the issue in a final and irreversible manner.

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