Japan should acknowledge the importance of Second World War "comfort women" as a "painful and emotive" issue in South Korea, an influential committee of British parliamentarians said Sunday. The Foreign Affairs Committee said that improving relations between Japan and South Korea could play an important part in resolving the nuclear stand-off involving North Korea.
Up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries were kidnapped and forced to work in military brothels used by Japanese troops during World War II, campaigners say.
"The issue of the Second World War 'comfort women' - Korean and other Asian women obliged to provide sexual services for the Japanese army - remains a painful and emotive issue for the South Korean public and government," the cross-party committee said in its "Global Security: Japan and Korea" report. "Its importance should be recognised internationally, including by Japan."