Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Jong-geon Meets with Grandmother Lee Yong-soo

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Choi Jong-geon, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Grandmother Lee Yong-soo, who has been active in resolving the issue of Japanese military comfort women victims.

According to the Committee for the Promotion of Referring the Japanese Military Comfort Women Issue to the ICJ (International Court of Justice), with which Grandmother Lee Yong-soo has been working, she met with Vice Minister Choi and Lee Sang-ryeol, Director-General of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Daegu on the afternoon of the 29th.

Vice Minister Choi also disclosed the meeting on social networking services (SNS) on the 30th, saying, "I came down to Daegu yesterday," and "I came to see comfort women victim Grandmother Lee Yong-soo."

During the meeting, Grandmother Lee strongly criticized the government for making empty promises without any measures to resolve the issue over the past several years, and reportedly reiterated her demand to refer the comfort women issue to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) resolution procedure.

Last month on the 26th, Grandmother Lee held a press conference urging the government to raise the comfort women issue to CAT, the body supervising the implementation of the UN Convention Against Torture.

To address the comfort women issue at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), both South Korea and Japan must agree, but referring it to CAT is possible without Japan's consent.

However, the government has expressed a principled stance of carefully reviewing the referral to CAT considering all circumstances, and it is believed that a similar position was conveyed during this meeting.

Furthermore, the committee reported that during the meeting, Grandmother Lee requested a meeting with President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and received a response that the request would be conveyed.

This is the first time a senior government official has met with Grandmother Lee since March, when she met with Foreign Minister Chung at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul.

Vice Minister Choi expressed his feelings on SNS, saying, "I toss and turn, unable to stop thinking about why and for what purpose we conduct diplomacy. I can only feel sorry."

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not specify the comfort women victim Vice Minister Choi met in its press release, stating only that he "visited Japanese military comfort women victims in Daegu and Pohang to check on their well-being and listened to opinions on solutions to the Japanese military comfort women victim issue."

Vice Minister Choi reiterated his commitment to "continue close communication with victims and support organizations in efforts to restore honor and dignity and heal wounds," and emphasized that "we will continue to strive to find solutions while listening to the opinions of victims and support organizations based on the victim-centered principle."