China News Service, Seoul, March 17th (Liu Xu and Liu Jingni) On the 17th local time, the Korean civil society "Committee for the Promotion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the Issue of Japanese Comfort Women" held a media conference at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. At the meeting, it explained that the victims of comfort women from South Korea, China, the Philippines and other countries submitted public petitions to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and several UN-affiliated groups. Lee Yong-soo, a Korean victim of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system, attended the meeting.

  It is reported that the petition was initiated by Lee Rong-soo, and has received 6 representatives of the 12 comfort women survivors in South Korea, Peng Zhuying, a representative of Chinese comfort women survivors, a representative of Filipino comfort women survivors, Indonesia and East Timor comfort women survivor representatives, and the Netherlands. The deceased comfort women supported on behalf of their relatives and others.

Lee Yong-soo, a Korean victim of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system, attended the meeting.

Photo by Liu Xu

  The petition pointed out that the Japanese government not only failed to implement the seven demands of victims of the comfort women system, including an admission of crime and a formal apology, but also denied the fact of implementing the relevant system, which seriously violated its obligations under the United Nations Convention against Torture. obligations and responsibilities.

The seven demands are as follows: the Japanese army recognizes the comfort women system as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and a serious human rights violation; conduct a fact-finding investigation, including publicizing official documents; make a formal apology; pay compensation to the victims; severely punish those responsible; Record relevant historical facts in history textbooks; build monuments and archives.

Lee Yong-soo shows the petition signature to the media.

Photo by Liu Xu

  The purpose of the event is to ask the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and several UN-affiliated groups to urge South Korea and Japan to jointly raise issues related to comfort women to the International Court of Justice, or that the South Korean side unilaterally submit to the Committee against Torture in accordance with Article 21 of the UN Convention against Torture. File an inter-State complaint and make every effort to resolve the issue on a victim-centred basis.

  Previously, the comfort women survivors represented by Lee Yong-soo had filed lawsuits several times to the South Korean District Court, suggesting that the South Korean government persuade the Japanese government to jointly submit the issue of comfort women to the International Court of Justice, and make a corresponding ruling against Japan in accordance with international law.

However, the South Korean District Court once held that the South Korean court could not accept the lawsuit against the Japanese government on the grounds that Japan enjoys national sovereign immunity. In refusing to advance the agenda, the Japanese government even avoided answering.

  In addition, representatives of comfort women from the Netherlands and other countries have also filed several civil lawsuits in national courts in Japan and the United States over the years, asking the Japanese government to face up to its responsibilities.

But the above-mentioned lawsuits all ended with the Japanese government refusing to appear in court or participate in the proceedings.

  Lee Yong-soo and others said that although the South Korean government and courts have compensated the victims of the comfort women system materially, the victims of the comfort women system always believe that monetary compensation is only one of the seven demands, and the Japanese government should pay more attention to it. This historical event made a public apology and popularized education.

Therefore, the victims of the comfort women system decided to take action at the international level, hoping that the International Court of Justice could make a reasonable judgment.

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