The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan are to meet Monday for talks on the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II, a meeting that could set the tone for the future of bilateral ties.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, are scheduled to meet at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul later Monday, a day after the two sides concluded their 12th round of working-level talks on the issue.
The meeting will be watched closely for any agreement that could settle the longstanding dispute between the neighbors whose ties have often been strained by rows over their shared history.
Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during the war. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45. The victims are called "comfort women."
South Korea demands Japan offer a formal apology and proper compensation to the victims before they all die. Earlier this month, a former South Korean comfort woman died at age 96, reducing the number of surviving victims in the country to 46.
Japan claims it fulfilled its legal responsibility in a package deal under the normalization treaty of 1965, but South Korea insists the comfort women issue should be handled separately as it constitutes a crime against humanity.
President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in their first summit last month to speed up negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Park called for a resolution by the end of this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. (Yonhap)
