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Japan PM rejects South Korean call for new steps to help 'comfort women'

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TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday rejected South Korea&#x27;s call for more steps to help &quot;comfort women&quot;, a euphemism for women forced to work in Japan&#x27;s wartime military brothels, and urged Seoul to honor a 2015 pact on the divisive topic.Japan and South Korea share a bitter history that includes Japan&#x27;s 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula, and the &quot;comfort women&quot; issue is especially touchy. The US allies are key to efforts to rein in North Korea&#x27;s nuclear and missile programs.South Korea said this week that the 2015 agreement, struck by President Moon Jae-in&#x27;s conservative predecessor, had failed to meet the victims&#x27; needs and resolve the feud.The 2015 agreement was &quot;a promise between the two nations. Keeping this promise is an international and universal principle. We cannot accept South Korea&#x27;s unilateral demands for additional measures,&quot; Abe told reporters.&quot;We have been sincere in executing every promise we made. We want to continue to strongly ask South Korea to do the same.&quot;Seoul is not seeking to renegotiate the agreement, which the two sides had said would &quot;finally and irreversibly&quot; end the feud if both sides stuck to it. Under the deal, Japan apologized again and promised 1 billion yen ($8.99 million) for a fund to help the women.But South Korea has urged Tokyo to take added steps, including a fresh apology.Japanese media reports have said Abe may not attend the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month because of the feud, although the government&#x27;s top spokesman said on Thursday that it had not been decided.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday rejected South Korea's call for more steps to help "comfort women", a euphemism for women forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, and urged Seoul to honour a 2015 pact on the divisive topic.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday rejected South Korea's call for more steps to help "comfort women", a euphemism for women forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, and urged Seoul to honour a 2015 pact on the divisive topic.