SEOUL (Agencies via Xinhua) -- In an unusually strong statement, South Korea demanded yesterday that the Japanese Government take responsibility for the World War II enslavement of women for its military-run brothels.
Foreign Minister Yoo Chong-ha expressed his discontent during a courtesy call by Japanese Democratic Party delegates, ministry officials said.
Yoo is also expected to voice South Korea's disapproval when he meets with his Japanese counterpart, Yukihiko Ikeda, in Seoul today.
The latest political fracas results from the secret Japanese payment of 2 million yen ($17,000) each to seven former South Korean sex slaves on Saturday. They were the first South Korean women to receive the money.
Seoul and women's groups are angry because the compensation comes from a private Japanese fund, not the Tokyo government.
The Korea Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery has said that refusal to make direct government payment equals Tokyo's unwillingness to recognize its role in the slavery of as many as 200,000 women.
Women from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as Japan, were recruited, but the majority were from Korea.
"We are not asking for government-to-government compensation, but the Japanese Government has the responsibility to compensate the victims on an individual basis," Yoo said.
In August 1993, public pressure forced the Japanese Government to issue a blanket apology for the sex slaves issue, admit that some force or trickery was used, and set up a fund for voluntary contribution.