By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea can be expected to continue to boost ties with Japan, despite differences of opinion over Tokyo's past abuse of sexual slaves, based on a foreign ministry report on Wednesday.
Lawmakers in South Korean capital Seoul received the briefing following last month’s ice-breaking trip by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se to Tokyo, during which he officially held talks with his counterpart Fumio Kishida for the first time.
Yun also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is set to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II this August with a statement that South Korea hopes will include an apology for his country’s past abuse.
“We will redouble our diplomatic efforts so that pending issues of interest to us, such as the 'comfort women' issue and Prime Minister Abe's statement, are handled in a positive direction,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry vowed, according to the state news agency Yonhap.
Less than 50 former sex slaves are still alive in South Korea -- they are also euphemistically referred to as comfort women given their service to the Japanese military during Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea.
Critics have accused Abe of failing to grasp Japan’s responsibility for its colonial era abuses -- Tokyo maintains that reparation matters were settled under a 1965 treaty.
The issue has kept South Korean President Park Geun-hye from agreeing to a summit with the Japanese prime minister since she took office a little over two years ago.
Time is running out for now elderly surviving comfort women, who continue to demand a direct apology and compensation.
Seoul appears to have made more progress in its push to have Tokyo officially note the slave labor history associated with industrial revolution sites that Japan is aiming to have recognized by UNESCO.
The World Heritage Committee, which has already convened in Germany, is in line to decide on the matter this weekend.
