Miracle?!?

Frankly, I didn't expect any breakthrough for this nth Japan-Korea meeting on the 'Comfort Women' issue.

It seems that this time, Japan is getting it right: the government takes responsibility, including for the payment of reparations (unlike the fund set up two decades ago).


In a nutshell:
- Japan apologizes, confirms the government and the military had a role in the Imperial Japan sexual slavery system, pay 1 bn yen in compensations
- Korea pledges to stop criticizing Japan on the issue. 
- both have made concessions to leave the political impasse and move on

Curious to read the fine print (particularly with Abe!*), and to see what forced Abe's hand, and how hardliners on both sides will try and spoil this beautiful day.

"Shinzoexpresses 'apology, repentance from heart' to 'comfort women' I need to check the wording (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/681364764052725761) "Yonhap: "(URGENT) Abe expresses 'apology, repentance from heart' to 'comfort women': Japan FM ""

I lived to see the day Nippon Kaigi member Fumio Kishida say "Japanese government acutely feels responsible"(twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/681366460363493376)
Yonhap: "(LEAD) S. Korea, Japan strike deal on 'comfort women'"

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UPDATE20151228
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Shinzo Abe's move on 'Comfort Women' reminds me of Ariel Sharon's move on Gaza: let's see how this hardliner's 'concession' goes. (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/681380220620771329)

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* remember his (in)famous statement last Summer: "Decoding the Abe Statement: "why apologize for crimes Japan never committed?"
"

Four More Years?

Four years after the passing of his dad KIM Jong-il, KIM Jong-un celebrates the end of his first term as DONK (Dictator Of North Korea).

So far, his reelection campaign looks much quieter, and barely less bloody, than the GOP primaries.

Breaking: Kim Jong-un declares war to Donald Trump (20150821 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/634558694936604672)

So between two rumored purges, KJU can try to improve his limited skills in international affairs, where this Dr. Evil looks more like a Mini-me.

Particularly after a year marked by face-losing moments with China: North Korean envoys getting folding chairs far from the V.I.P.s during the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Chinese top brass deciding to not attend the Moranbong concert... So much for Pander Diplomacy: did KJU really think that sending his former girlfriend's band would buy him a ticket to Beijing? and did he have to drop that H-Bomb remark at that moment?

Exclusive: here's the technical schema of North Korea's H-Bomb (20151210 poktanju - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/674879744454725632)

2015 was also marked with further pressure from the U.N. on Human Rights issues, and a non-visit by its Secretary General. Resorting to more classic Baekdu-style diplomacy, KJU seems to have sent a formal invitation to BAN Ki-moon by sentencing Canadian pastor LIM Hyeon-soo to a life sentence.

Anyway, expect more weird messages from beyond the DMZ. Preferably not as macabre as those ghost ships drifting towards Japanese shores...


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