Published on August 4, 2019. This essay discusses Asahi Shimbun’s 1991 comfort women campaign, Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi’s repeated apologies during his visit to South Korea, South Korea’s political use of the issue, the 2015 Japan-South Korea agreement, and the problem of shifting goalposts.

2019-08-04
Asahi Shimbun launched a campaign in 1991 claiming that “there had been forcible taking away of comfort women,” and from South Korea’s perspective, it probably seemed that “this can be used.”
They judged that it could be used as material to advance negotiations advantageously, demanding that Japan provide South Korea with advanced technology, and so they used it.
This is a chapter published on Ameba on 2018-12-31 under the title, “They judged that it could be used as material to advance negotiations advantageously, demanding that Japan provide South Korea with advanced technology, and so they used it,” and on 2018-02-06 under the title, “Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi, who visited South Korea, apologized as many as eight times.
From South Korea’s perspective, it probably seemed that ‘this can be used.’”
This is a chapter that all Japanese citizens also need to reread.
Emphasis in the text, apart from headings, is mine.
In the following special feature, truths that one could absolutely never know by subscribing to newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun and watching the news programs of their television stations or NHK are revealed from the very first page.
Pro-North Korea, anti-Japan, breaking promises…
The crimes and punishment of Asahi Shimbun, which gave birth to dark South Korea.
How to fix the goalposts.
—Recently, the Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea has begun moving to revive the issue of the Japan-South Korea agreement on the comfort women issue concluded at the end of 2015.
How do you view this?
Abiru.
I think the present situation was probably within expectations for Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On December 28, 2015, the very day the Japan-South Korea agreement was concluded, Prime Minister Abe told those around him, “At the time of the Kono Statement and the Asian Women’s Fund as well, the South Korean side did not keep its promises.
With that in mind, we proceeded with negotiations while insisting on confirming with the other side that this would be the ‘final resolution.’”
In other words, negotiations were conducted on the premise that “the South Korean side does not keep its promises,” and that is why the agreement took this form.
At the time, Prime Minister Abe was saying, in effect, “If they violate the agreement after we have gone this far, South Korea will be finished as a member of the international community,” and “With this, we have fixed the goalposts that had been moved.”
And this time as well, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide has said, “We will not move even one millimeter.”
I think that says everything.
Nishioka.
For my part as well, the present situation is within expectations, but I disagree with Foreign Ministry officials publicly saying that “South Korea has moved the goalposts until now.”
It was Japan that first moved the goalposts, and behind the deterioration of Japan-South Korea relations to this point, there was an interaction between Japan and South Korea.
Asahi Shimbun launched a campaign in 1991 claiming that “there had been forcible taking away of comfort women,” and in response, without even conducting an investigation, the Japanese government had Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi, who visited South Korea in January of the following year, apologize as many as eight times.
From South Korea’s perspective, it probably seemed that “this can be used.”
When one investigates, it turns out that even within the Roh Tae-woo administration at the time, there was debate over whether to use or not use the comfort women issue as bargaining material with Japan.
The ambassador to Japan opposed it, but the Blue House, the presidential office, judged that it could be used as material to advance negotiations advantageously, demanding that Japan provide South Korea with advanced technology in order to resolve the trade deficit problem that was then a pending issue, and so they used it.
Abiru.
The Japanese government was naive, and probably thought that historical issues and economic and trade issues were separate matters.
This article continues.
I am a person who knows what kind of company Samsung was before 1991, and this chapter also clarifies one major reason why Samsung became the company it is today.
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