‘Comfort women agreement should be reconsidered,’ says Mike Honda

Former U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, who led the efforts in 2007 to pass a House resolution that urged Japan to formally admit and apologize to victims of its sexual enslavement of women during World War II, has received an honorary doctorate degree from Cheongju University in the North Chungcheong Province. Cheongju University announced on Friday that it conferred the degree on the Japanese American politician because of his contribution to Korea-U.S. relations and his fight for the sexual slavery victims, euphemistically called “comfort women.”

“The Japanese government made a deliberate mistake (regarding the comfort women issue). Japan should admit its mistake and let the future generation learn the lessons so that they will not make the same mistake,” said the 75-year-old former House member in the following lecture delivered to around 200 students after receiving the degree. “We should keep fighting to right the wrong. It will take a lot of time. It may take as many as 500 years. But no matter how long it takes, this issue must be resolved,” he emphasized.

About the so-called comfort women agreement reached in 2015 between Korea and Japan, Honda said the deal is “favorable only to Japan as it is conditioned on an agreement never to raise the issue again in exchange for financial compensation,” stressing, “President Moon Jae-in should reconsider and revise or nullify the deal.”

Jang-Ki Woo straw825@donga.com