A college student places flowers next to the statue of a girl representing victims of Japanese sexual slavery in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. South Korea’s opposition politicians on Wednesday called for nullifying a settlement reached between Seoul and Tokyo on compensation for South Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military in World War II. AP
TOKYO — Japan is recalling its ambassador to South Korea in response to the placing of a comfort-woman statue in front of its consulate in the Korean city of Busan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga (yoh-shee-hee-deh soo-gah) said Friday that both the ambassador in Seoul and the consul-general in Busan would be temporarily recalled.
Many Korean and other women in Asia were forced to work in brothels for the Japanese military during World War II in what was called the “comfort-woman” system.
Japan and South Korea reached an agreement to resolve their differences over the issue in late 2015, but some South Koreans have continued to protest. A comfort-woman statue has remained standing in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, and a similar one was put up in Busan recently./rga