US uses terms both 'comfort women,' 'sexual slaves'

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States has a dual-terminology policy for the tens of thousands of Korean and other Asian women forced to provide sex services for Japanese imperialist troops, the State Department said Thursday.

With South Korea and Japan locked in a sharp history and territorial row, attention has been paid to Washington's stance between its top regional allies.

Together with the sovereignty issue of Dokdo, a pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea, especially sensitive is how to define those women, many of them still alive. They are euphemistically dubbed "comfort women."

Koreans believe Japan has yet to offer a proper apology for such atrocities during its 1910-45 colonization of Korea.

In his Liberation Day speech, President Lee Myung-bak urged Japan to take sincere steps to resolve the issue.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also reportedly instructed the use of the words "enforced sex slaves," not just "comfort women," in line with Washington's efforts to address human rights concerns.

"We sometimes use the one term. We sometimes use the other term. There's no particular mystery to that," department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.

"We've made clear to both governments, all governments, that we use the terms interchangeably, and we will continue to do so," she added.

On Dokdo, effectively controlled by Seoul and also claimed by Tokyo, Nuland reiterated that it is a matter to be handled by the two sides.

"We want to see our allies work this out together," she said. (Yonhap)