Japan pledge for ‘comfort women’

Seoul

Japan offered a “heartfelt apology” and a one-billion yen ($8.3 million) payment to Korean women forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II. Now the two countries, both close US allies, “will welcome a new era”, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo after speaking by phone with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye. The fate of the 46 surviving South Korean “comfort women” is a hugely emotional issue in South Korea, and a source of much of the distrust that has marred relations with its former colonial ruler Japan for decades. The deal would be “final and irreversible” if Japan fulfils its responsibilities.