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Japan Ambassador Returns to S. Korea Despite Comfort Women Statue Row

© AP Photo / Lee Jin-manJapanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine speaks to the media upon his arrival at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine speaks to the media upon his arrival at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 4, 2017 - Sputnik International
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Japan’s Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine returned to Seoul to prepare for the country's future cooperation with the new South Korean presidential administration and ensure joint efforts are taken to tackle threats emanated from North Korea after an almost three-year absence over a dispute surrounding the "comfort woman" statue.

December 16, 2016. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meeting in Tokyo. - Sputnik International
Japan’s Abe Expects South Korea to Stick to Deal on Comfort Women
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Japan’s Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine returned to Seoul after an almost three-year absence over a dispute surrounding the "comfort woman" statue erected near his country's Consulate General in South Korea, media reported Tuesday.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Monday that despite the ongoing controversy, Nagamine would be sent back to Seoul to prepare for the country's future cooperation with the new South Korean presidential administration and ensure joint efforts are taken to tackle threats emanated from North Korea.

The ambassador landed at Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport around 10 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT), whereas Japan’s Consul General in Busan Yasuhiro Morimoto arrived several hours earlier, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Nagamine and Morimoto were recalled in January after the statue symbolizing the Korean women forced into sex slavery by Japan’s Imperial Army before and during World War II was installed by activists in front of Japan's Consulate General in Busan.

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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Earlier in the day, Nagamine said after the meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would do everything possible to resolve the disagreements between the two countries.

Erected in December 2016, the "comfort woman" statue provoked strong criticism from Japanese authorities. Tokyo condemned Seoul’s inaction over the statue, citing the country’s violation of both the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which obliged a host country to protect the dignity of a consulate, and the 2015 deal aimed at resolving the issue.

In 2015, Tokyo and Seoul reached a landmark agreement in which Japan issued an apology to the living victims of the sex slavery and promised a payment of $8.3 million toward the provision of care for these women.

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