Japan protests planned South Korean monument to "comfort women"

Sep 28, 2011, 4:35 GMT

Seoul - A planned monument to South Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World World II has met formal opposition from Japan, a news report said Wednesday.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has asked Seoul to prevent a local survivors' association from setting up what they are calling a Peace Monument near the Japanese embassy, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Slavery by Japan has been holding demonstrations in front of the embassy every Wednesday, demanding an apology and compensation for the victims.

The group said it plans to unveil the monument at its 1000th protest in December, Yonhap reported.

'Japan's Foreign Ministry has asked us to prevent them from setting up the Peace Monument,' Yonhap quoted an official from the South Korean Foreign Ministry as saying under anonymity.

But the monument did not require government approval, and would be difficult to block, the official said.

South Korea's Constitutional Court last month ruled that the government was obliged to make efforts to settle the issue with Tokyo. Seoul has proposed talks, but Japan has not yet responded, the Yonhap report said.

The taking of sexual slaves by the military remains one of the most contentious legacies of Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula.

Japan has refused to compensate the victims individually, saying the issue was settled in a 1965 treaty.

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