President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy to Japan said Wednesday that he would not discuss with his Japanese counterpart a renegotiation of a controversial deal over Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during the World War II.
“I would go overboard as a special envoy if I proposed renegotiation,” said Rep. Moon Hee-Sang of the president’s governing Democratic Party of Korea. “I’m just a special envoy. I’ll deliver (to the Japanese counterpart) the president’s message and the (Korean) peoples’ perception.”
Moon Hee-sang (right), a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party, speaks to reporters at Seoul's Gimpo International Airport before heading to Tokyo as South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy on May 17, 2017. (Yonhap)
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Sunday, Rep. Moon indicated that as relations have continued to worsen between South Korea and Japan over the sex slavery deal, Seoul would seek a different approach rather than a renegotiation or annulment of the bilateral agreement.
President Moon told his counterpart Shinzo Abe during their first phone call that most South Koreans rejected the agreement, but the envoy said the president did not specifically mention “renegotiation or annulment” of the deal, a move that the president had promised during the campaign trail.
The envoy added that he would discuss with Japan over when to hold a summit, saying it should take place “as soon as possible.” The two countries’ leaders had met almost annually since 2000, but this was halted since 2012 when bilateral relations worsened over territorial and historical disputes.
“It is hard to hammer out a specific schedule right now. We need to exchange our views over the issue. ... Our basic position is that we need to meet as much as possible and as soon as possible,” said Rep. Moon after arriving at Tokyo in the afternoon.
During the four-day visit, Rep. Moon is expected to meet Japanese Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Kishida Fumio, Defense Minister Yoshihide Suga and Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
On his campaign trail, President Moon vowed to scrap the sex slavery agreement struck by former President Park Geun-hye in 2015, claiming that the deal was hastily arranged without reaching out to the public including the surviving victims of sex slavery.
Under the deal, Tokyo expressed an apology for its colonial-era atrocities and agreed to launch a foundation dedicated to supporting the surviving victims of sexual slavery. It also promised to contribute 1 billion yen ($9.97 million) to the foundation launched last year.
By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)