Foreign Minister David Lin says more time is needed to discuss the issue of Taiwan’s former “comfort women” with Japan.
Lin was speaking Monday in Taipei. He was referring to women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during WWII. Only four such women are still alive today in Taiwan.
Taiwan has demanded that Japan issue a formal apology, compensate the victims, restore their dignity, and provide for their care.
Lin said Taiwan has already conducted several rounds of preliminary negotiations with Japan this month. However, he said talks over comfort women are a “complicated process”, and that it took Japan and South Korea a year and eight months to reach an agreement last year.
The foreign minister spoke about what the government is hoping to do, saying, though, that an agreement will not come overnight.
“I think we are all hoping to use a more pragmatic, flexible and low-key approach to holding further talks in the coming days," said Lin. "We are hoping to make some progress in the future.”