By Yi Whan-woo



The government will decide by the end of the year whether to renegotiate a controversial accord reached between Korea and Japan over former Korean sex slaves, the chief of the foreign ministry's taskforce reviewing the deal said Monday.



Oh Tai-kyu, who heads the nine-member team created to uncover the hidden details behind the sex slavery agreement made in December 2015, said his team will primarily listen to the surviving victims in making its decision.



The team was formed in line with President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledge to go over the 2015 agreement: Many in Korea criticized the deal for being reached without consulting the victims.



"We will try to come up with a result by the end of the year for the government to decide on whether to completely revise the deal, partially do so, or leave as it is," Oh said during a press meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central Seoul after the team's official launch and first meeting.



Oh said the process may take longer as the team would look into the case thoroughly.



"We don't have any specific result in mind," he said. "The foreign minister will make a conclusion after we submit the report to her, and based on that, the government will set its stance toward the deal."



Reached between the governments of then-President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December 2015, the deal was criticized for being hastily made without reflecting the victims' opinions.



The taskforce's jobs will include revealing what happened before the foreign ministers of the two countries verbally agreed on the deal. The two governments said at the time that with the deal, the issue would be resolved "finally and irreversibly," and the team plans to find out how the term was included and who was in charge.



The team will also find out why the two sides have interpreted the agreement differently, especially concerning a statue of a girl symbolizing the former sex slaves.



The Abe administration claims the Seoul government, in line with the 2015 agreement, should remove the girl statues installed outside its embassy in Seoul and consulate in Busan, in exchange for receiving 1 billion yen aimed at helping the surviving victims. But Korea says it is not obliged to remove the statues but would only make relevant efforts concerning them.



The nine members of the team are comprised of scholars and officials.



Oh, a former liberal journalist, worked for Moon as a social issues adviser on the presidential transition team. Others include Paik Ji-ah, president of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security under the wing of the foreign ministry, and Korea Human Rights Foundation Chairwoman Sun Mi-ra.



