(LEAD) Envoy: 'Comfort women' deal not accepted by Koreans
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details; CHANGES headline)
TOKYO, May 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy told Japan's top diplomat Wednesday many Koreans still disapprove of the contentious bilateral deal on the historical issue of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.
Moon Hee-sang, a five-term lawmaker, raised the sensitive topic in meeting with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida here for about 40 minutes.
The politician is on a visit to Tokyo as the special envoy of South Korea's new president, Moon Jae-in, as the neighboring countries struggle to improve their relations.
"The mood of the majority of South Korean people is that they can't accept the comfort women agreement emotionally," the lawmaker was quoted as telling Kishida.
He was referring to a 2015 accord signed by the previous South Korean administration of Park Geun-hye, who was later impeached for a bribery scandal.
Japan provided a government fund to support dozens of South Korean victims, who are alive after having been forced to serve in front-line brothels for imperial Japanese troops during World War II under the deal aimed at ending a long-running diplomatic feud between the two sides.
The deal has been largely unpopular in South Korea, although the Park government argued it was essential to moving forward Seoul's ties with Tokyo.
President Moon conveyed the public sentiment to Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in their phone conversation last week.
His envoy's remarks in the meeting with the minister affirm the Moon administration's negative view on the agreement and hint at a full-scale campaign to scrap or revise it.
The envoy also called for joint efforts to resolve the problem with wisdom.
He reminded the minister of Japan's past acknowledgment of the wartime atrocities, especially in the so-called 1993 Kono Statement and 1995 Murayama Statement.
Japan has formally demanded Seoul abide by the latest agreement but the envoy told reporters that Kishida did not reiterate the position in their talks.
The envoy also pointed out, "The values that South Korea and Japan pursue are identical."
"The leaders of the two nations should meet each other at an early date and frequently to talk about the North Korea issue," he added.
Kishida was quoted by Moon as saying that "South Korea and Japan are neighbors who share strategic interests and Japan plans to pursue forward-looking relations with the Moon Jae-in administration."
pbr@yna.co.kr
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