The South Korean government said in a report Wednesday that it failed to gather adequately the opinions of former "comfort women," who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II, before reaching a deal with Japan in 2015 intended to address the issue.
In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in a statement that he saw no problem with the process leading to the accord and called anew on Seoul to steadily implement it.
The report, compiled by a South Korean government task force reviewing the two-year-old agreement reached under the last administration, also details a previously undisclosed request by Japan that the South Korean government persuade victims' support groups — which were likely to oppose the deal — to accept it. South Korean representatives apparently all but accepted the request.