Japan and South Korea’s landmark settlement on “comfort women” received a cautious welcome across Asia on Tuesday, in a sign that the deal could ease longstanding rancour in the region over Tokyo’s account of its wartime conduct.
David Lin, the Taiwanese foreign minister, said the move gave an opportunity for further consultations with Tokyo, while in the Philippines a representative for women forced into prostitution during the second world war said she respected Seoul’s decision to settle.
The remarks suggest the deal may shift regional perceptions of Japanese intransigence over an issue that has scarred relations between the two main US allies in East Asia and has provided an effective diplomatic tool to China — although doubts remain about whether the settlement will be as “final and irrevocable” as Japan and South Korea are hoping.