Spotlight: Japan-S.Korea "comfort women" deal draws applause, dubiousness

The high-profile agreement stricken between South Korea and Japan on the issue of "comfort women" has drawn global applause as well as dubiousness over the motives of reaching such a deal and its real effect.

South Korea and Japan reached a "final", "irreversible" agreement on Monday over Japan's sex slavery of Korean women during World War II. Japan offered an apology and a 1-billion-yen (about 8.3-million-U.S.-dollar) payment to Korean sex slaves.

The deal is expected to clear what South Korean President Park Geun-hye has described as "the biggest obstacle to efforts to improve bilateral relations" in the final days of 2015, which marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, Kyodo reported.

The accord could begin to reverse decades of animosity and mistrust between the two thriving economies, trade partners and U.S. allies, the Associated Press said.

While hailing the "landmark" deal, world media also called into question as to why or how the deal was reached.

Kyodo noted that the meeting came as the United States has stepped up calls on Japan and South Korea, its key Asian allies, to mend ties in the face of a rising China and nuclear-armed Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The agreement was particularly important given the threat posed by DPRK's nuclear and missile programs, Reuters reported, citing a senior U.S. Department of State official.

Reuters also reported that the two countries have been pushing to improve relations since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Park met last month, and the meeting took place partly under pressure from Washington.

The AFP quoted Hiroka Shoji, a researcher from Amnesty International, as saying that the women were missing from the negotiation table, and the deal is more about "political expediency than justice."

Aside from the U.S. pressure, Japan has its own motivation in reaching the deal other than merely facing up to history.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Seoul would refrain from accusing or criticizing Japan regarding this issue in the international community if Tokyo steadily implemented the measures it had promised, the Kyodo reported.

As part of the deal, Seoul will try to relocate a statue symbolizing "comfort women" which currently stands in front of the Japanese embassy through consultations with relevant NGOs, Yun said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said he believes South Korea will halt efforts to add materials related to "comfort women" to the Memory of the World List of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The agreement would also allow Abe to project an image as statesman and supporter of women's rights on the world stage and to pursue Tokyo's long-standing elusive dream of a permanent U.N. Security Council seat, Yonhap quoted Dennis Halpin, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University as saying.

Even though the deal was called "historic", some are concerned that such a deal would not be enough, noting that "legal responsibility" is absent in the agreement.

"What we have been demanding is legal compensation from Japan," said 88-year-old victim Lee Yong-Soo, who demanded Japan's damages for the war crime rather than conciliatory compensation.

The Kyodo reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida dismissed the view that using state budget for such a purpose would mean that Japan will offer reparations for South Korea. He said the issue of compensation was resolved under the 1965 Japan-South Korea treaty.

Some are doubtful whether the government deal would be accepted by the people of the two countries.

"This is an agreement between the two governments, but not between the two societies. So the next focus is whether the South Korean government can persuade its public to accept the deal," Kan Kimura, an expert on Japan-South Korea relations, was quoted by the AFP as saying.

The AFP also noted possible obstruction in implementing the deal -- nationalist pressure, as the expert said.

Japanese ultra-right groups may seek to undermine support for the agreement, and South Korean NGOs may argue the agreement does not go far enough in requiring Japanese contrition and demand additional Japanese concessions, said Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation. Endi