Japan's ambassador to South Korea will remain in Japan for some time, government sources said Thursday, as Seoul has yet to do anything to address Tokyo's concern about the erection of a statue in Busan memorializing Korean women forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels, who are called "comfort women."

Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine was recalled Tokyo on Jan. 9 in protest of the erection of the statue by a citizens' group in the southern port city. Tokyo claims the action contravenes a 2015 bilateral agreement to resolve the issue surrounding the comfort women.

The Japanese position indicates that tension between the two countries over the issue may persist, as South Korea so far has taken no concrete action to remove the statue erected near the Japanese Consulate in Busan amid a heightened public outcry in South Korea to scrap the 2015 agreement.