Lawmakers to adopt resolution to condemn Japan's review of sex-slave apology

A special parliamentary committee on Northeast Asian history said Friday it plans to adopt a resolution next week to denounce Japan for reviewing its 1993 key statement admitting to its wartime sexual enslavement of women.

At a closed-door meeting, members of the committee agreed that Japan's review of the Kono statement was seen as being aimed at undermining the credibility of its own apology.

A panel of experts appointed by the Japanese government said last Friday that Seoul and Tokyo officials had coordinated the wording of the statement that apologized for coercing women into sexual servitude for its front-line troops during World War II.

The committee is seeking to adopt a resolution condemning the move, along with parliamentary committees on foreign affairs and gender equality that seeking to take similar actions.

Cho Tae-yul, second vice minister of foreign affairs, told the committee that the government plans to take stern actions against any attempt by Japan to undercut the landmark statement.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Wednesday that South Korea will use all available means to counter the review of the Kono statement.

Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea and China, were forced to work at front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during the war. A total of 54 victims of Japan's sexual enslavement, euphemistically called "comfort women, remain alive in South Korea. (Yonhap)