US recognises ‘comfort women’ memorial

The issue of ‘comfort women’, women abducted from Korea and enslaved by Imperial Japan, has long complicated Japan-South Korea relations, and now a decision by the US city San Francisco to accept a memorial to the women has prompted accusations of ‘Japan-bashing’ from the island nation.

A decision by San Francisco to recognise a memorial to women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military in World War II has strained ties with its sister city, Osaka.

The statue is part of a long-running effort by activists to shed light on a very dark chapter in the history of the conflict.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for South Korea to remove similar statues, while South Korean President Moon Jae-in has cast doubt on a 2015 agreement intended to settle the traumatic legacy between the two countries.

Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds reports.