“President Yoon Suk-yeol signed and sealed the promise with a thumbprint with me. But what is he doing without saying a word to me? Talk about cherishing a snake in one’s bosom...”

These were the words of Lee Yong-soo, an elderly comfort women victim in the Japanese military, in a phone call on August 22. She added, “I can’t believe it.” She said, “He said he would protect us even if he didn’t become president. I trusted him because those words touched my heart.” She continued and said, “This (comfort women issue) is a problem that the leader of the Republic of Korea should resolve, but he still hasn’t said a word about it.”

On September 11, 2021, during the People Power Party’s presidential primaries, President Yoon held the hands of the elderly Lee Yong-soo and said, “I will obtain an apology from Japan no matter what and take care of all the wounds in your hearts,” at the Museum of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan in Jung-gu, Daegu.

But more than a hundred days have passed since the president’s inauguration, and the government has still not presented any meaningful solutions. President Yoon remained silent on August 14, which the state designated as the International Memorial Day for “Comfort Women” in the Japanese Military to remember the day that the late victim, Kim Hak-soon first testified of the atrocities.

The president did not deliver any message concerning the comfort women issue on National Liberation Day either. On the following August 16, when he met with the press on his way to work, a reporter asked about the president’s solution for the recovery of the comfort women victims. The president simply gave an abstract reply saying, “The comfort women issue is also a problem of human rights and universal values.” This led to accusations that the president, who had set improving relations with Japan as a major state task, was studying the face of the Japanese government.

There are only eleven comfort women survivors left. Lee said, “The old ladies used to say, ‘Yong-soo, you have to solve this problem before we die.’ But now, they can’t even say that (because they are dead).” She further said, “Our young people must know the correct history and make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Legal compensation, punishment of criminals, identifying the truth, none of these have been properly conducted. We must receive an apology.”

Last January, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the police for emergency relief in connection to the attempts by far-right groups to disturb the Wednesday Demonstrations to Resolve the Comfort Women Issue, but the police have not taken any action. When making the recommendation, the Human Rights Commission said, “It is necessary for public authority to protect the world’s longest running demonstration, demanding an apology and responsible actions from the Japanese government.”

Lee Na-young, president of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said, “President Yoon Suk-yeol needs to give a specific answer about the South Korean government’s position on people who claim the comfort women are a fraud.” She also said, “They are reducing the comfort women issue by approaching it in terms of improving South Korea’s relationship with Japan in foreign affairs and security. They are trying to keep this issue from emerging.”

Shin Hee-seok, a doctor of law at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies and a member of a committee that is preparing to file the comfort women case at the International Court of Justice said, “Referring the comfort women issue to the United Nations Convention Against Torture procedures, which Lee and other comfort women victims in Korea and abroad are demanding, agrees with the universal values of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, which President Yoon mentioned in his National Liberation Day address.” Dr. Shin added, “President Yoon trying to avoid this issue can hurt the victims, and his argument is weak.”