South Korea says it will ask Japan to join it in talks about Korean women who were used by Japanese soldiers as sex slaves during World War Two.
The Foreign Ministry announced its intentions Thursday, days after South Korea's high court ruled the constitution requires the government to take specific action to settle a dispute with Tokyo over compensating the women.
As many as 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced to serve as “comfort women” in Japanese brothels during the war. Japan has acknowledged the atrocity, but has refused to apologize or pay restitution.
It maintains it settled all claims with South Korea under a postwar treaty signed in 1965, in which Seoul received $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan.
The South Korean spokesman said the ministry will set up a task force to review what measures it can take beyond diplomatic actions.
The Korean peninsula was occupied by Japanese military forces between 1910 and 1945.