A South Korean government report casting doubts over the 2015 agreement with Japan on the "comfort women" issue is a source of concern for diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Seoul. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the report released at the end of last year made it clear that the accord, which the administration of his impeached predecessor Park Geun-hye struck with Tokyo two years ago, was flawed both in its content and its negotiating process, and that the issue over the women, including many Koreans, who were sent to frontline brothels for the Japanese military before and during World War II would not be resolved by the agreement.
A possible move by South Korea to either scrap or seek a renegotiation of the agreement, however, risks seriously harming diplomatic trust between the two governments that, together with their mutual ally, the United States, must be united in dealing with the threat of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Moon's government, which had repeatedly suggested that the accord was not being endorsed by a majority of the South Korean people, should abide by the agreement with Japan and try harder to implement the deal through further efforts to persuade the agreement's domestic opponents.
Under the December 2015 accord, which Tokyo and Seoul confirmed would resolve the comfort women issue "finally and irreversibly," the Japanese government expressed its "apology and remorse" for the frontline brothel system in which the Japanese military was involved, and agreed to provide ¥1 billion to a foundation to be established by Seoul to support the surviving former South Korean comfort women. South Korea, for its part, agreed to make efforts to resolve the problem of a comfort woman statue set up by a private group in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.