Japan recalls envoy to S. Korea over ‘comfort woman’ statue
TOKYO — Japan announced Friday that it would recall its ambassador to South Korea and suspend economic talks in response to the placing of a “comfort woman” statue representing wartime sex slaves in front of its consulate in the Korean port city of Busan.
Both Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine in Seoul and the consul-general in Busan will be temporarily recalled, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
Many Korean and other women in Asia were forced into sexual slavery in front-line brothels for the Japanese military during World War II in what was called the “comfort woman” system.
Suga called the placing of the statue “extremely regrettable,” since Japan and South Korea had reached what was supposed to be a final agreement to resolve long-standing differences over the issue in late 2015.