South Korea and Japan reached a deal on Monday to resolve the longstanding issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
After talks at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, announced the agreement, which included an expression of apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and 1 billion yen from Japan, after talks at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
"The comfort women issue is an issue whereby many women under the then military's involvement bore deep scars to their honor and dignity, and from this perspective, the Japanese government acutely feels responsible," Kishida said at a joint press conference with Yun at the ministry.
Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
Most of the “comfort women,” as these former sexual slaves are euphemistically called, are elderly or have died. There are 46 surviving former comfort women in Korea.