Gender Equality Minister Cho Youn-sun met with Democrat Rep. Mike Honda in Washington on Wednesday to discuss issues involving Korean victims of Japan’s sex slavery during World War II. Cho expressed her gratitude on behalf of the Korean government to Rep. Honda for his years of dedicated work urging for the Japanese government’s apology and compensation for the wartime sex slaves.

Cho is currently in the U.S. to attend a meeting at the United Nations on Saturday where she is expected to officially demand Japan take legal responsibility for Korean comfort women.

Earlier in the day, the minister also met Christine Lagarde, head of International Monetary Fund, to exchange ideas on promoting women workforces for sustainable development. Cho told Lagarde that Korean women suffer through balancing work and home and that the government is making an effort to create a gender equality culture and increase the portion of women managers at government offices and private firms, officials said.

To this, Lagarde stressed the importance of narrowing the gap between fulltime and part-time workers in order to increase women’s social participation, they said.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)