On Tuesday, May 24, 2016, the Sejong Institute held its 15th Colloquium this year on the topic of “Comfort Women Issue and the ROK-Japan Relations.” The Sejong Institute welcomed Professor Jaejeong Chung from University of Seoul as the designated presenter and former Ambassador Hee-yong Cho who currently serves as Director of Center for Japanese Studies at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy as a panel discussant.
With the expectation of the establishment of a foundation to support comfort women survivors by the end of the month, the Colloquium focused on the recent comfort women agreement reached between South Korea and Japan and its implementation. During his presentation, Professor Jaejeong Chung talked about the areas of disagreement between Seoul and Tokyo, the need for fine-tuning of the agreement, and prospects and management of the comfort women foundation. In the discussion session, Ambassador Hee-yong Cho argued that South Korea needs to (a) faithfully implement the agreement while closely communicating with comfort women survivors and the relevant NGOs and civil society groups, and (b) strategically approach the issue with the focus of strengthening the ROK-Japan relations especially considering the need for a closer security cooperation in the region amid North Korea’s ever present military threats.
The Colloquium was moderated by Vice President Sang Hyun Lee of the Research Planning Division, and Chairman Joon-woo Park, President Chang Soo Jin as well as all our research fellows participated in the Colloquium for prolific discussions on the topic.