South Korea plans to propose talks with Japan on compensating Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Imperial Japanese Army soldiers during the war, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday, citing an unidentified Foreign Ministry official in Seoul.
"We respect the ruling by the Constitutional Court that it is unconstitutional for the South Korean government to make no specific efforts to resolve a dispute with Japan over compensation for the former sex slaves euphemistically called 'comfort women,' " the official was quoted as saying, referring to a recent landmark ruling.
The official said Seoul is considering making the offer to Tokyo "at an early date."
The South maintains that compensation for victims was not covered by a treaty signed when the two nations normalized relations in 1965.