Roundup: S.Korean politicians, people clamor to nullify comfort women agreement with Japan

Ordinary South Koreans and politicians of the opposition bloc clamored in unison to nullify the agreement with Japan on "comfort women" victims on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the "humiliating" agreement.

On Dec. 28 last year, the Park Geun-hye administration announced the "final and irreversible" agreement with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe-led cabinet on an issue of comfort women, a euphemism for Korean women who were lured or forced into sex enslavement for Japanese military brothels during World War Two.

Hundreds of students and civic group activists as well as ordinary people held their "Wednesday rally" in front of the Japanese embassy in central Seoul to protest against what they claimed was the unilateral, disgraceful deal.

They marched to the South Korean foreign ministry building, about a kilometer away from the embassy, shouting for an immediate annulment of the agreement and resignations of Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Most of South Koreans oppose the agreement, unilaterally pushed by the Park government with no parliamentary approval. The Japanese leader has yet to offer a sincere apology for past brutalities and acknowledge his cabinet's legal responsibility for the wartime crime against humanity.

In 2016 alone, seven aged victims passed away, reducing the number of survivors to 39 among 238 South Korean women who had identified themselves as former sex slaves.

Politicians in the opposition camp participated in the march and the demonstration, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the biggest opposition Minjoo Party, as well as several Minjoo Party legislators.

Choo said it was very deplorable for South Korea's government and foreign ministry to agree on such a ridiculous deal and force people to accept it, urging the deal to be scrapped immediately.

The Minjoo Party has adopted the annulment of the agreement as its party line. The party's floor leader said that if the presidential power is transferred to the opposition bloc, his party will nullify it.

Spokesman of the minor opposition People's Party told a press briefing that the final and irreversible agreement cannot be reached with Japan which has denied its legal responsibility and heartfelt apology for historical crimes.

Protest rallies were held in other major cities across the country to demand the nullification or withdrawal of the agreement.

In the southeastern port city of Busan, civic group activists sought to erect a so-called "girl statue," a symbol of teenage girls forcibly conscripted and raped by Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War, in front of the Japanese consulate in the city.

The statue was dismantled just four hours after the erection, according to local media reports. The advocates for the comfort women victims, who had attempted the erection for almost a year, were hauled in by police officers.

In Daegu city, North Gyeongsang province, a former political home turf for President Park and her Saenuri Party, advocacy group members held a demonstration and announced the ongoing plan to erect the symbolic statue in the city. Endit