https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-march-12-2021/#post-225876-koreajapan
QUESTION: Okay. My question is related to South Korean and Japan relations. The United States is focusing on cooperation with the countries as well as among those countries. But as you know, the – there has been growing tension between the two countries over history issues, including the issue of comfort women, who are sex slaves of the Japanese military during World War II. And just yesterday, a 93-year old former comfort woman in Korea, Lee Yong-soo, sent an open letter to Secretary Blinken asking for a meeting with him during his visit to South Korea next week to discuss this issue. So my questions are: First, is the State Department aware of this letter and the request for meeting, and is such a meeting something the Secretary might consider? And lastly, will the State Department support taking this issue before the International Court of Justice if it came to that? Thank you.
MR PRICE: Well, thank you for the question. Let me start by saying broadly – and we’ve already alluded in this call to the trilateral engagement that Acting Assistant Secretary Kim took part in with senior Japanese and Korean officials the other week – but we know that a robust and effective trilateral relationship among the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan, and we know that it’s critical for our shared security, our common interest in defending freedom and democracy, upholding human rights, championing women’s empowerment, combating climate change, promoting regional global peace and security, bolstering the rule of law in the Indo‑Pacific and across the globe. We know that.
We have long encouraged Japan and South Korea to work together on history related issues in a way that promotes healing and that promotes reconciliation. As we stated at the time, we welcome specific efforts, including the 2015 Comfort Women Agreement, as an example of the two countries’ commitment to forging a more productive and constructive bilateral relationship. When it comes to that agreement, when it comes to the trilateral relationship, it was at the time Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who was at the center of brokering some of these efforts.
This is something – the trilateral relationship is something that Secretary Blinken – now Secretary Blinken has invested quite a bit of time and focus into. And, of course, in the upcoming trip, we are prioritizing travel to these important treaty allies, not only to signal the strength of the bilateral alliance between the United States and Japan and the United States and South Korea, but also the important we place – importance we place on that trilateral relationship, as we know just how important it will be for every challenge we face in the region and beyond.
Let’s go to take a final question or two. Jennifer Hansler.
https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-march-12-2021/#post-225876-koreajapan