Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Wednesday approved the disbursement of ¥1 billion ($9.8 million) to a South Korean foundation to help Korean women forced to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese military.
When the transfer of the money to the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is completed, Japan will have fulfilled all responsibilities pledged in the landmark bilateral deal struck last December over the aging comfort women, paving the way for implementation of support measures for those still living.
Tokyo has made every effort to ensure the funds are not deemed as reparations, in line with its stance that all compensation claims were "settled completely and finally" under an agreement attached to the 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea.