S. Korea files appeal court decision over comfort women

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Monday that it has filed for an appeal with the Seoul High Court against a lower court's recent decision on the landmark deal with Tokyo on former sex slaves.

The ministry took the legal step earlier in the day, more than two weeks after the Administrative Court of Korea ordered the government to release all documents related to its 2015 deal with Tokyo.

In 2015, South Korea and Japan produced the deal on resolving the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.

Under the agreement, Japan formally apologized for its past actions and offered 1 billion yen (US$8.9 million) in reparations. South Korea agreed to end the dispute once and for all if Japan fully implements the deal.

Tokyo has demanded that the bronze statue of a girl symbolizing former South Korean sex slaves for Japan's World War II soldiers be removed from outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

South Korea has pledged to make efforts to help address Tokyo's demand "in an appropriate manner," though it says it is a matter to be decided by local activists who placed it there in the first place.

Some critics raised suspicions over a possible secret deal over the removal of the statue. The South Korean government has long denied agreeing to remove it, though it has refused to release the full text of the 2015 deal.

entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)