S. Korea urges Japan to stop distorting history on 'comfort women'

SEOUL - South Korea on Tuesday urged Japan to stop distorting a historical fact on "comfort women," a euphemism for Korean women forced into sexual servitude for Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.

Seoul's foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told a press briefing that the forcible recruitment of "comfort women" is an undeniable historical fact that the international community has already confirmed definitely.

His comments came as Japan's foreign ministry posted the comments, made in February by then Japan's deputy foreign minister Shinsuke Sugiyama, on its website.

Sugiyama said during the February session in Geneva of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that no documents had been found to confirm that the "comfort women" were forcibly recruited by Japanese military or government.

His claim drew strong criticism from neighboring countries, including South Korea, as Korean people suffered from numerous atrocities, including forced labor for Japanese munitions factories and sexual slavery for Japanese military brothels, under the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.

In December last year, Seoul and Tokyo reached a "final and irreversible" agreement on the protracted dispute over the "comfort women," but Japan has denied the forcible recruitment of Korean women into sexual slavery.

Cho urged the Japanese government to refrain from words and deeds that could impair the spirit of the December agreement, calling for concerted efforts to restore the honor of dignity of the "comfort women" victims and heal their scars.