ABSTRACT
The comfort women issue has come to virtually define South Korea–Japan relations. It has become an avatar of South Korean national identity and an ever more important factor in the ROK decision making. Despite extraordinary political and economic success, the prevailing South Korean national narrative stresses marginalization and victimization, and Japan has been one of the chief tormentors. This chapter examines the history of the comfort women and the 2015 agreement between Seoul and Tokyo in particular. It analyses the way that domestic political forces in South Korea have used the comfort women to advance domestic political interests and argues that in doing so have damaged the broader national interest.
