Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption First known footage of 'comfort women' 
 
 South Korea has released what it says is the first known footage of "comfort women" forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two. 
 
 Filmed by US troops in China, the clip was found by government-funded researchers at Seoul National University in US archives. 
 
 The 18-second clip shows several women lined up talking to a Chinese soldier. 
 
 South Korean activists estimate 200,000 women were forced into brothels for Japan's military. 
 
 They are believed to have been mainly from Korea, but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. 
 
 Some of the women were willing, others were lured with the offer of paid work as cooks or cleaners and many were forced, a UN report said. 
 
 Until now, the only records of women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War Two had been photographs and survivor testimonials. 
 
 Image copyright US National Archives Image caption The issue has long been a strain on ties between South Korea and Japan 
 
 The research team says the footage was filmed by joint US-Chinese troops in China's Yunnan province which was previously occupied by Japan. 
 
 The seven Korean women were freed in 1944 and the officer speaking with them has been identified as a Chinese captain of the China-US Combined Force, the team said. 
 
 The issue has long strained the relationship between South Korea and Japan over a perceived lack of adequate apology and compensation from Japan. 
 
 In 2015, the two countries reached a settlement whereby Tokyo formally apologised and agreed to pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) to fund victims. 
 
 Many Koreans though viewed the apology as insufficient and the issue continues to plague ties. 
 
 In January, Japan temporarily withdrew its ambassador to South Korea over a "comfort women" statue placed outside the Japanese consulate in Busan. 
 
 A similar statue has also been placed outside Japan's consulate in Seoul, and Tokyo wants both these statues to be removed. 
 
 Correction 31 July 2017: This article has been amended to make it clear that not all the "comfort women" were coerced. ||||| SEOUL (Reuters) - The Seoul government has released rare video footage of Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two, the first time moving images have been shown of the “comfort women”. 
 
 A government-funded research team from Seoul National University found the footage, which was filmed in 1944 by an American soldier, in the United States National Archives after a two-year hunt. 
 
 “South Korea has not had its own data on comfort women and (has) been relying on Japanese and American data,” said Kang Sung-hyun, an academic on the team. 
 
 “It is crucial for South Korea to have our own data for the issue of comfort women,” he said. 
 
 The 18-second black-and-white clip shows seven women lined up outside a brick house, being questioned by Chinese soldiers. The women were found by U.S.-China allied forces in China’s Yunnan province, the research team said in a statement. 
 
 The women were registered by U.S. soldiers, the research team said. Two of the women in the video had already appeared in previously released photos of “comfort women”. 
 
 The term is used to describe girls and women from South Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere, who were forced into prostitution in Japanese wartime military brothels. 
 
 South Korean activists estimate that there may have been as many as 200,000 Korean victims. 
 
 Japan and South Korea agreed to resolve the issue “finally and irreversibly” in 2015 if all conditions were met. Japan made an apology and promised one billion yen ($8.84 million) for a fund to help victims. 
 
 However, the issue continues to strain relations between the two countries. 
 
 Japan wants South Korea to remove a statue near the Japanese consulate in Busan city commemorating Korean comfort women, as well as another near the Japanese embassy in Seoul, saying that the presence of the statues violates the 2015 agreement. 
 
 South Korean President Moon Jae-in suggested during his campaign for a May 9 election that most South Koreans did not accept the 2015 deal negotiated by his conservative predecessor Park Geun-hye and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, and that he could try to renegotiate it. 
 
 Since the election, he has not directly addressed whether he will seek to renegotiate the pact. The issue is likely to be discussed when he meets Abe on Friday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Activists for comfort women erected a statue of a girl which they call a 'peace monument' outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011 
 
 Japan and South Korea have agreed to settle the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War Two, in their first such deal since 1965. 
 
 Japan has apologised and will pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) - the amount South Korea asked for - to fund victims. 
 
 The issue has been the key cause for strained ties. South Korea has demanded stronger apologies and compensation. 
 
 Only 46 former "comfort women" are still alive in South Korea. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lee Ok Seon: "I was forced to have sex with many men each day" 
 
 The announcement came after Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met his counterpart Yun Byung-se in Seoul, following moves to speed up talks. 
 
 Later Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe phoned South Korean President Park Geun-hye to repeat an apology already offered by Mr Kishida. 
 
 "Japan and South Korea are now entering a new era," Mr Abe told reporters afterwards. "We should not drag this problem into the next generation." 
 
 Ms Park issued a separate statement, saying a deal had been urgently needed - given the advanced age of most of the victims. 
 
 "Nine died this year alone," she said. "I hope the mental pains of the elderly comfort women will be eased." 
 
 It is estimated that up to 200,000 women were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during WW2, many of them Korean. Other women came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan. 
 
 Japan-South Korea's 'comfort women' deal 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption South Korean activists for comfort women have been holding weekly demonstrations outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul 
 
 Japan will give 1bn yen to a fund for the elderly comfort women, which the South Korean government will administer 
 
 The money also comes with an apology by Japan's prime minister and the acceptance of "deep responsibility" for the issue 
 
 South Korea says it will consider the matter resolved "finally and irreversibly" if Japan fulfils its promises 
 
 South Korea will also look into removing a statue symbolising comfort women, which activists erected outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011 
 
 Both sides have agreed to refrain from criticising each other on this issue in the international community 
 
 Read more: 'Comfort women' - a painful legacy 
 
 After the meeting in Seoul, Mr Kishida called the agreement "epoch-making". 
 
 "Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women," Mr Kishida told reporters. 
 
 The wording of the deal does not explicitly state that the "comfort women" will receive direct compensation, but states that the fund will provide "support" and bankroll "projects for recovering the honour and dignity and healing the psychological wounds". 
 
 Some former "comfort women", such as Lee Yong-soo, have taken issue with this. 
 
 The 88-year-old told the BBC: "I wonder whether the talks took place with the victims really in mind. We're not after the money. If the Japanese committed their sins, they should offer direct official government compensation." 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Lee Yong-soo (centre) has taken part in protests outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul 
 
 Another former "comfort woman", 88-year-old Yoo Hee-nam, said: "If I look back, we've lived a life deprived of our basic rights as human beings. So I can't be fully satisfied. 
 
 "But we've been waiting all this time for the South Korean government to resolve the issue legally. As the government worked hard to settle deal before the turn of the year, I'd like to follow the government's lead." 
 
 In Japan journalist Nobuo Ikeda reflected the view of many on Twitter that the country had lost out, although others thought the deal could have been worse for Mr Abe. 
 
 "Japan pays 1 billion yen and our PM apologises but South Korea will 'consult about the girl's statue' - that's not a diplomatic negotiation," Mr Ikeda tweeted. 
 
 Kevin Kim, BBC News, Seoul 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Japan's PM Shinzo Abe (L) and South Korea's Park Geun-hye (R) agreed in November to accelerate talks on the issue 
 
 With only days left until the end of the year, the timing of the talks was highly symbolic and the expectations for results were high. 
 
 Earlier in the year, the South Korean president called for a resolution to the "comfort women" dispute by the year's end, marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. 
 
 However, few believed that a quick breakthrough could be reached on a thorny issue that has strained the region for decades and some critics say the talks have been rushed to preserve the symbolism. 
 
 It's unclear if Japan's admission of responsibility was legal or just humanitarian, and Tokyo's offer of 1bn yen has been described as a measure to help the women, not as direct government compensation. 
 
 The dozens of surviving women have asked for a formal apology specifically addressed to themselves and direct compensation. They say past expressions of regret have been only halfway and insincere. 
 
 Japan revisionists deny WW2 sex slave atrocities 
 
 Negotiators appear to have overcome several obstacles including disagreements over the wording of the agreement and the amount of compensation. Tokyo was reportedly initially considering paying only around 100 million yen. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke of the Japanese prime minister's ''sincere apologies and remorse'' 
 
 Japan has repeatedly apologised or acknowledged its responsibility for wartime sex slaves, most notably in a 1993 statement by the then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono. 
 
 It had also resisted giving greater compensation, arguing that the dispute was settled in 1965 when diplomatic ties were normalised between the two countries and more than $800m in economic aid and loans was given to South Korea. 
 
 A private fund was also set up in 1995 for the victims and lasted for a decade, but money came from donations and not from the Japanese government.
– It's just 18 seconds long, but a new video released by South Korean researchers makes history for the worst of reasons. The clip shows Korean "comfort women" held as sex slaves by the Japanese military, reports the BBC. It's believed to be the first such film clip known to exist, though images of "comfort women" had previously surfaced in still photographs. The good news is that the video shows the women after US and Chinese troops arrived to free them in China's Yunnan province in 1944. A research team from Seoul National University found the footage in the US National Archives after a two-year search, reports Reuters. An American soldier is believed to have filmed the scene, in which a Chinese officer talks to the women lined up in front of a building used as a brothel. Japan forced an estimated 200,000 women to work as sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II. (Earlier this year, South Korea angered Japan with a statue honoring the women.)