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SEOUL : South Korea Tuesday urged Japan to be cautious in handling the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World War II following anger over remarks by the Japanese prime minister.
The foreign ministry statement followed talks in Tokyo Monday between South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Jung-Pyo and his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi.
"Our side urged Japan to take a cautious approach" towards wartime sex slavery, according to the statement, which was also released by the South Korean embassy in Tokyo.
Japan said it stood by a 1993 statement that acknowledged and apologised to the so-called "comfort women" for the first time, it said.
Both sides agreed to make efforts "for the development of a future-oriented relationship based on a correct understanding of the past," according to the statement.
Yonhap news agency quoted Cho as saying he expressed "regret" over the issue at talks with Japanese officials.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred up anger this month in countries that were invaded by Japan in the 20th century when he said there was no evidence that Tokyo directly coerced "comfort women" into brothels.
Abe has tried to ease the row saying he "sincerely" stood by the 1993 apology.
Japan and South Korea are working to repair relations which were badly strained under Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, who repeatedly visited a controversial war shrine.
But conservative Japanese lawmakers have been pushing Abe to tone down the 1993 statement.
Historians say up to 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels.
- AFP/ir
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