[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Human rights organizations related to comfort women in the United States have publicly demanded that the leaders of South Korea and Japan refer the issue of Japanese military comfort women to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
On the 15th, seven comfort women-related organizations in the U.S., including Comfort Women Action for Redress and Education (CARE) and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), sent an open letter with this content to President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The letter also included participation from scholars researching the comfort women issue, such as Alexis Dudden, a history professor at the University of Connecticut, and former U.S. Congressman Michael Honda.
They explained, "Comfort women survivors from South Korea and several other countries are seeking legal accountability from the Japanese government and an official and concrete apology, but they have already exhausted all means through their domestic courts." They added, "Referring the comfort women issue to the ICJ would relieve the South Korean and Japanese governments from the burden of resolving this matter through diplomatic and political channels."
They continued, "A final ruling under international law would finally stop the suffering of the survivors and bring justice to them, as well as provide a breakthrough in the deteriorated relations between the two countries over the past decade." They also noted that referring the comfort women issue to the ICJ is the last wish of comfort women victim Halmoni Lee Yong-soo.
Meanwhile, on the 16th, U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Suga will hold a summit at the White House.
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