Focus on Statue of Peace and explore the Diplomatic incident with Japan.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2015, South Korea and Japan reached an agreement to settle the comfort women issue. As a part of this agreement, South Korea acknowledged the fact that Japan was concerned about the statue in front of the embassy of Japan in Seoul and committed to solve the issue in an appropriate manner. However, the South Korean government has never explicitly promised to remove the statue. In December 2015, Japan stated that it would not pay ¥1 billion as compensation unless the Statue of Peace was removed from its location in Seoul since South Korea agreed to address the statue issue yet failed to do so. Afterward, a second statue was erected in Busan. Japan then recalled two diplomats from South Korea and halted high-level talks. South Korea also terminated the 2015 agreement on 21 November 2018 and effectively shut down the Japanese-funded comfort women foundation that was set up to pay the agreed settlement. Japan maintains that the agreement is still legally binding and therefore, the placement of the statue is illegal.
Busan Seoul Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs comfort women agreement