Sexual Slavery Deal

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in said the 2015 agreement between Japan and the previous Park Geun-hye administration cannot resolve the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. The president hinted at the possibility of renegotiating a deal with Tokyo.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in said that the 2015 Korea-Japan "comfort women" agreement has serious flaws in terms of procedure and content, and caused enormous pain and disappointment to the Korean people, in an official statement presented by presidential office spokesman Park Soo-hyun. President Moon said that above all such political deals that fail to meet the needs of the victims and the Korean public cannot solve the issue of the former sex slaves of the Japanese army, and that he refuses to accept it.

[Soundbite] Park Soo-hyun(Cheong Wa Dae Spokesman) : "The president wants to make it clear once again along with the Korean public that this agreement cannot solve the issue of "comfort women."

President Moon stressed that painful history that people want to avoid must be faced head-on. He has instructed his administration to devise follow-up measures with the priority on the victims. This effectively means that the incumbent administration is poised to re-negotiate the deal with Japan.

[Soundbite] Park Soo-hyun(Cheong Wa Dae Spokesman) : "The government must devise follow-up measures as soon as possible to place the priority on the victims and reflect the opinions of the public."

However, President Moon emphasized that he will work toward the restoration of bilateral ties with Tokyo for the sake of future-oriented relations between the two nations separately from the historic issues. A Cheong Wa Dae official, however, made it clear that the president's message did not imply the termination of the "comfort women" agreement, but was rather intended to express his thoughts on the results of the investigation.