Five months after Seoul and Tokyo reached a landmark deal on the wartime sex slavery issue,... Korea is launching a preparatory committee to lay the groundwork for a foundation that's part of the deal.<br />This is the first step toward implementing the agreement, but according to our Connie Kim, Korea still has other tasks to resolve. <br />A preparatory committee tasked with establishing a foundation for victims of wartime sexual slavery will launch Tuesday. <br />It's the first step toward implementation of a landmark settlement on wartime sexual slavery reached in December.<br />Under the agreement, Seoul and Tokyo had agreed to set up the foundation, with the Japanese government promising to contribute one billion yen, or nine-point-one million U.S. dollars.<br />Seoul's foreign ministry said in a joint statement released with the gender equality ministry on Monday... that the first meeting will take place Tuesday with 11 members.<br />The committee is expected to discuss the future direction of the foundation, and will prepare to launch the foundation as early as next month.<br />Foundation of Reconciliation and Healing is currently being considered as the name... in order to reflect the voices of the sexual slavery victims.<br />Although preparations for the foundation are already underway, Seoul still has a number of unfinished tasks to deal with first.<br />Japan has been asking to remove the comfort woman statue from its place outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, though Korea says that was never part of the deal.<br />Meanwhile, advocacy groups in Seoul have been calling for a complete re-negotiation of the deal, saying the government must not ignore the voices of the surviving "comfort women."<br /><br /><br />"Four of the women have died since the deal was made, and there are now just 42 remaining survivors. <br />The groups say not all of the women agree with the deal, and many of them are calling for a sincere apology from the Japanese government. <br />Connie Kim, Arirang News." <br /><br />
