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Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-moon delivers a keynote address at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 23. (provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

South Korea and Japan traded blows on the issue of wartime military sexual slavery on Feb. 24 before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The exchange reflected the deepening chill between the two sides since a Seoul Central District Court ruling on the issue early last month.

The exchange came as both sides twice made use of the “right of reply” granted to them by the 46th regular session of the UNHRC. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, each side spoke via video for a little over one minute — but their rebuttals and re-rebuttals during that time drew some attention.

The opening salvo came courtesy of the Japanese mission in Geneva. The Japanese representative declared that Japan could not accept a speech made by South Korea on Feb. 23.

As a basis for this argument, the representative maintained that the “comfort women” issue was “finally and irreversibly resolved” through an intergovernmental agreement by Seoul and Tokyo on Dec. 28, 2015, adding that the two sides had also affirmed that they would not engage in slander or denunciations before the UN or the international community in general.

Commenting on a Jan. 9 South Korean court ruling ordering the Japanese government to pay 100 million won (US$89,030) to each of the comfort women survivors, the representative said it was extremely regrettable and utterly unacceptable and called it a clear violation of international law and the agreement between the two countries.

In response, the South Korean representative said the “comfort women” issue was a matter of human rights that went beyond any historical context or the relationship between specific countries.

The representative went on to express dismay that the Japanese mission referred to the South Korean government’s sincere efforts to draw a historical lesson from the matter as being merely a denunciation of the Japanese government.

Asserting that the issue concerned serious human rights violations in the context of conflict-related sexual violence, the South Korean representative said it was an undeniable fact that the comfort women had been forced into a “deplorable” situation against their own volition.

Referring to the December 2015 agreement, the representative acknowledged that it was an official agreement between the two governments, but added that Seoul had clearly indicated it could not represent a permanent solution because it failed to reflect the victims’ position. The representative also said the government had neither the authority nor right to prevent actions taken by the victims themselves.

Remarking on last month’s court ruling, the representative said the principle of state immunity — which holds that courts in a given country do not have jurisdiction over other states — was neither absolute nor permanent.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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