Seoul Cancels Japanese Embassy Building Permit

 

Estranged relations between South Korea and Tokyo and construction delays led to Seoul canceling the permit for a new Japanese Embassy building. The two countries have been at odds with each other due to Japan’s brutal 1910 to 1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, with forced labor and wartime sex slavery.

 

Activists, since 1992 have held weekly rallies at the statue of a ‘comfort woman’ which symbolizes Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels, to demand a ‘full heartfelt apology’ for wartime sex slavery from Tokyo.

 

According to sources, the previous embassy building was demolished years ago. The staff moved into offices in the neighboring high-rises. Japan was given permission for a new six-storey building in 2015, the year Seoul and Tokyo signed the controversial deal to settle the wartime sex slavery issue.

 

However, as per South Korean law, construction must start within a year of a permit being received. Japan argued that the ‘comfort woman’ statue is against the 2015 bilateral agreement, under which Tokyo offered an apology and a one-billion yen payment.

 

“We had a meeting with Japanese officials in February, and they said they will accept the revocation of the permit as they cannot start the construction work due to circumstances in their home country,” said an official at the Jongno Ward Office in Seoul.