Women Forced to Work in Wartime Brothels Were Not Sex Slaves, Japan's Foreign Minister Says

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II should not be called sex slaves.

“The term sex slaves doesn’t match the facts,” Kishida said according to the Japan Times.

During World War II, Japan forced thousands of women — euphemistically called comfort women — into military brothels. Most were South Korean; other victims came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Japan and South Korea reached a landmark settlement on the issue in December, after decades of diplomatic deadlock. As part of the deal, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized and Tokyo offered an $8.5 million victim-support fund.

[The Japan Times]

Subscribe to TIME

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.

Please enter a valid email address.

* The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again.

Sign Up Now

An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later.

Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME.

You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you!

For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Mark Rivett-Carnac at mark.rivett-carnac@timeasia.com.