By Yi Whan-woo



Japan appears to be using Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's possible participation in the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as leverage in a row with South Korea over a disputed accord on "comfort women."



President Moon Jae-in invited Abe to the opening ceremony in a letter delivered by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in Tokyo last week, but Abe has still not responded.



According to Kang, the countries have not begun talks about Abe's schedule in detail and that he only promised to give a "maximum level of support" for Korea's first Winter Olympics to succeed.



Under these circumstances, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono reportedly raised issues over the "comfort women" and told Kang that it would be difficult for Abe to "make it to the Olympics."



The Asahi Shimbun said Kono, in his talks with Kang last week, brought up the Moon government's assessment of the agreement reached between the governments of former President Park Geun-hye and Abe in 2015 over the "comfort women."



Seoul's fact-finding team is scheduled to announce Dec. 27 how the two sides struck a deal to settle the dispute over Japan's imperial-era mobilization of Korean women as sex slaves without the surviving victims' consent.



The team's findings will offend Japan if the team concludes that the "final and irreversible" agreement should be revised.



The Moon government will refer to the conclusion to decide whether to retain, modify or scrap the deal.



"Should Korea deny the bilateral agreement, Abe may decide not to come to PyeongChang because it could lead to anti-Korea sentiment in Japan," a diplomatic source said.



A expert on Japan, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "The investigation into the sex slavery agreement led to Japan's mistrust of Korea, and Japan appears to be using the Winter Olympics to gain an advantage in this historical row."



The sources said, however, it remains to be seen whether Abe will boycott the PyeongChang Games considering Japan will need Korea's support when it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.



Korea's taskforce on the sex slavery agreement was aimed at putting priority on the victims' opinions in its investigation when it was set up in July.



However, the team has been taking a prudent approach recently. Last week, one of its members said the team will exclude the victim's opinions in its conclusion and concentrate on the background of the accord.



