The government will seek confirmation from South Korea that the ¥1 billion ($9.8 million) transfer from Tokyo needed to complete their landmark deal settling the "comfort women" issue does not constitute reparations, sources said Sunday.
The move is intended to make Tokyo's stance clear that the money will be disbursed to a South Korean fund set up to help the victims under the 1965 Japan-South Korea basic treaty, and an attached pact, which says the issue of property and claims rights between the two countries "is settled completely and finally," the Japanese sources said.
Japan will hold Foreign Ministry director-general-level talks with South Korea on the issue involving Korean women forced into wartime brothels for the Japanese military during the war, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffles his Cabinet on Wednesday, they said.