By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea –

Talks between high-level officials of both North and South Korea on December 11 failed to result in an agreement between the two sides. Disagreement between the two Koreas over the most important topic to be discussed apparently led to the standoff.

South Korea wanted to discuss reunification of family members permanently separated by the Korean War, citing its importance as a humanitarian issue. North Korea instead wanted to first discuss the continuance of cross-border tours suspended by South Korea in 2008. South Korea believes that the two issues should not be likened to each other.

During the talks, in which officials of both sides met for the first time in two years, the delegations were unable to reach any type of agreement and did not release a joint statement at the close of the summit. North Korea blames South Korea for the breakdown of the talks between them. According to chief South Korean delegate Hwang Boogi, he offered to resume talks in the future, but North Korea has not shown interest in continuing talks.

North Korea wanted to reach an agreement on the tours during the talks before moving on to discuss the family unification issue. Because it is having financial difficulties, North Korea hoped to resume the cross-border tours, which were halted in 2008 after a South Korea tourist was shot and killed.

South Korea wanted to discuss the family unification issue before any discussion on resuming cross-border tours. South Korea hoped that North Korea would help family members separated by the Korean War locate their family members on the other side and allow them to write to each other. South Korea also wanted to arrange regular reunions between family members so that they can temporarily reunite before they die from old age. While the two sides arranged for temporary reunions between family members this year, South Korea had hoped for further agreements on the issue. 

The two Koreas have had especially poor relations since land mines injured two South Korean soldiers at the border in August. The two sides agreed at the time to put a stop to an impending military conflict and agreed to meet for negotiations.

The two sides’ failure to come to an agreement during this month’s talks could signify a further setback in relations between them.

For more information, please see:

International Business Times – South, North Korea Talks Fail? No Agreement Reached, No Further Meeting Dates Set – 12 December 2015

The New York Times – Negotiations Break Down Between Two Koreas – 12 December 2015

Reuters – North, South Korea Talks End Without Agreement – 12 December 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Talks Between North and South Korea End Without Agreement – 12 December 2016

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China –

Amidst China’s memorializing of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, a new museum depicting the plight of Chinese comfort women during World War II has opened in Nanjing.

The comfort women, among them many Chinese women, were forced into acting as sex slaves for members of the Japanese military during World War II. Over 200,000 Chinese women were forced into sexual slavery during that time.

The new museum was built in Liji Alley in Nanjing, where China’s oldest “comfort station”, or military brothel, once stood. It contains over 1,600 items and over 600 photographs depicting the comfort women’s experience. Some of the items were donated by the families of former comfort women.

The founder of China’s first research center on comfort women, Professor Su Zhiliang, has stated that getting survivors to come forward is an immense challenge and that most of the survivors choose to stay silent about the atrocities that they experienced.

Fewer than two-dozen comfort women are estimated to be alive at this time. Most of those who are still alive live in poverty.

One former comfort woman who has come forward, 96 year-old Wei Shaolan, lives in a mud hut with her son. While being held as a comfort woman, Ms. Wei escaped the station where she was being held as a sex slave to an officer. Upon her return home, her husband wanted nothing to do with her. She then became pregnant with her son, who was her abuser’s child. Her son has faced ridicule in their community because he is half Japanese.

Ms. Wei states that she traveled to Japan in 2010 in hopes of securing reparations and compensation, but the Japanese courts dismissed her case. The officer who made her his sex slave denied Ms. Wei’s accusations against him.

Activists have attempted to secure justice and reparations for the survivors with little success. China’s establishment of the comfort women museum is one of the only measures taken to commemorate the comfort women.

The account of comfort women has often been overshadowed by accounts of the Nanjing Massacre, in which thousands of Chinese were killed. Japan and China disagree on how many were killed during the Nanjing Massacre, and it has been a point of contention between the countries since World War II.

China and Japan have made recent efforts to improve ties between themselves despite their troubled history. Last month, China, Japan and South Korea held a three-way summit, an event that had not occurred in three years.

For more information, please see:

Channel NewsAsia – As China remembers Nanjing Massacre, ex-WWII Sex Slave Recounts Ordeal – 14 December 2015

The Straits Times – China Holds Low-Key Memorial for Nanjing Massacre – 14 December 2015

CCTV America – Nanjing Museum Pays Tribute to World War II Comfort Women Victims – 12 December 2015

GB Times – Comfort Women Museum Opens in Nanjing – 2 December 2015