This would be devestating to ROK-Japan relations if South Korea backs out of this deal. It seems the Park administration should have expected to the political opposition to come out against the deal and be willing to take the political flak before signing it:
Lee Yong-soo (second from left), 89, a former victim coerced into sex slavery for the Japanese military, speaks at the press briefing held by a newly launched civic group demanding a nullification of the Korea-Japan deal in central Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Hundreds of progressive civic groups launched an umbrella organization on Thursday to demand Seoul and Tokyo invalidate the landmark deal over Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women.
The umbrella organization, which encompasses 383 civic, religious, lawyers’ and students’ groups as well as 300 individuals, announced its plan to campaign against the deal at home and abroad in a press conference held in central Seoul.
“We gathered here to invalidate the agreement, demand renegotiations with Japan and gather public support,” Kim Geum-ok, a representative for the group, said in the press briefing. “We will be at the forefront of the fight to prevent recurrence of inhumane crimes like sex slavery and win legal compensation and formal apology from Japan.” [Korea Herald]
