S. Korea tells Japan to take 'sincere' measures over former wartime sex slaves

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea called on Japan Thursday to take "sincere and active" measures to deal with the issue of compensation for Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japan's soldiers in World War II, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry called in Nobukatsu Kanehara, Japan's deputy chief of mission in Seoul, earlier in the day and delivered the stance to the Japanese envoy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said.
The diplomatic action came two days after South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the Seoul government to make no specific effort to settle disputes with Tokyo over its refusal to compensate women for their sexual enslavement during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
"We fully explained details of the Constitutional Court's ruling to Japan's Diplomatic Minister Kanehara and told him that there is a need for the Japanese side to take sincere and active measures with regard to the issue," Cho said.
"To resolve the issue, the ministry will redouble its efforts in the future," the spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear how the Japanese envoy responded, but Kanehara said he will "faithfully" report Seoul's stance on the matter to Tokyo, according to Cho.
Japan has acknowledged its wartime military used sex slaves, but refuses to directly compensate or apologize to victims individually, maintaining that all claims were settled with South Korea by the postwar Treaty of Basic Relations with South Korea in 1965. Under the pact, South Korea received US$800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan.
The issue of the former sex slaves, euphemistically called "comfort women," is one of the most emotional issues that still remains unresolved between South Korea and Japan.
South Korea is considering holding diplomatic talks with Japan to raise the issue or reviewing the possibility of setting up a joint arbitration panel with Japan, according to a government source.
According to historians, up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese brothels during World War II, when the Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony.
Japan's former wartime sexual enslavement is becoming an increasingly urgent priority as most victims are elderly and fear they may die before they receive compensation or an apology from Japan.