Organizers of an art exhibition who withdrew a statue symbolizing "comfort women" defended their decision on Monday as justified given a crisis in ties between Japan and South Korea and arson threats, but opponents decried it as censorship.

The term comfort women is a Japanese euphemism for the women, including Koreans, who provided sex — including those who did so against their will — for Japanese troops before and during World War II.

The issue of the women is highly emotive for people in both countries, whose relations remain overshadowed by Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.