Japan and South Korea agree 'comfort women' deal

Activists for comfort women erected a statue of a girl which they call a 'peace monument' outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011

Japan and South Korea have reached a historic deal to settle the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War Two.

Japan offered an apology and will pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) to a South Korean-administered fund for victims.

The issue has long strained ties, with South Korea demanding stronger apologies and compensation for victims.

The agreement represents the first deal on the issue since 1965 and comes after both sides agreed to speed up talks.

The announcement comes after Japan's foreign minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Seoul for discussions with his counterpart Yun Byung-se.

After the meeting Mr Kishida told reporters that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered a heartfelt apology.

"Abe, as the prime minister of Japan, offers from his heart an apology and reflection for everyone who suffered lots of pain and received scars that are difficult to heal physically and mentally," he said.

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Japan-South Korea's 'comfort women' deal

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionSouth Korean activists for comfort women have been holding weekly demonstrations outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul

• Japan will give 1bn yen to a fund for the elderly comfort women, which the South Korean government will administer
• The money also comes with an apology by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the acceptance of "deep responsibility" for the issue
• South Korea says it will consider the matter resolved "finally and irreversibly" if Japan fulfills its promises
• South Korea will also look into removing a statue symbolising comfort women, which activists erected outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011
• Both sides have agreed to refrain from criticising each other on this issue in the international community

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Up to 200,000 women were estimated to have been forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during WW2, many of them Korean. Only 46 of them are still alive in South Korea.

Other women came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Japan had previously acknowledged its responsibility for sex slaves in a 1993 statement by the then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono.

Japan had also resisted giving greater compensation, arguing that the dispute was settled in 1965 when diplomatic ties were normalised between the two countries and more than $800m in economic aid and loans was given to South Korea.

A private fund was also set up in 1995 for the victims and lasted for a decade, but money came from donations and not from the Japanese government.