SEOUL -- South Korea's foundation to support former comfort women, which was set up on the basis of a Japan-South Korea accord at the end of 2015, has officially been dissolved, a source in the foundation said Friday, a move inevitably prompting a backlash from Japan, which calls the dissolution "unacceptable."
The South Korean government announced in November that it would dissolve the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation and has proceeded with work for the dissolution.
The foundation was established under the administration of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The Japanese government has donated 1 billion yen to the foundation out of state coffers, based on the bilateral accord in which Japan and South Korea confirmed that the issue of so-called comfort women "is resolved finally and irreversibly." Of the 47 former comfort women who were then still alive, 34 survivors received 100 million won (about 9.2 million yen) each.
According to the source, an application for the registration of dissolution was made on June 17, and the foundation received on Wednesday a notice that the procedure had been completed. The dissolution proceeded before a decision was made on how to dealt with about 5.8 billion won (about 530 million yen) that remained untouched. Some of the women refused to accept the payments.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
