Grandmother I Yong-su: "Comfort Women Issue, Please Accept Judgment from the International Court of Justice"

Survivor of the Japanese military sexual slavery, Halmoni Lee Yong-soo, is holding a press conference on the 16th at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, urging to bring the issue of Japanese military comfort women to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for judgment. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Lee Yong-soo (93), a former comfort woman victim of the Japanese military, appealed to President Moon Jae-in and the public on the 16th through a press conference to entrust the comfort women issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for judgment.

At a press conference held at the Seoul Press Center that day, Grandma Lee said, "Our government should step forward and reveal Japan's crimes through international law." She serves as the representative of the "Committee for the Promotion of Referring the Japanese Military Comfort Women Issue to the ICJ" (hereafter, the Promotion Committee). The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations as stipulated in the UN Charter. Member states, including South Korea and Japan, are obligated to comply with ICJ rulings.

Grandma Lee said, "Both countries should take responsibility and go to the international court to achieve a complete resolution, and instead of remaining enemies, they should get along well. How long will we keep growling at each other like this?" She added, "We should receive a ruling, reach a complete resolution, and live in harmony." She continued, "I am old now, and when other grandmothers ask me, 'What have you been doing all this time?' I have nothing to say. I have quietly carried on and done everything, but there has been no progress. My last wish is for the President to obtain a ruling through international law."

Regarding Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Grandma Lee said, "Let's go together," and added, "Let's go to the International Court of Justice together and clarify things properly."

She also criticized Harvard Law School professor Mark Ramseyer, who defined comfort women victims as "prostitutes." She said, "(Japan) is shamelessly insisting that our courts violated international law," and criticized, "Even now, they are having a Harvard professor lie in the United States."

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