Japan ' s envoy requests meetings with key officials on comfort women deal SEOUL , April 5 ( Yonhap ) -- Japan ' s top envoy to South Korea has requested meetings with top government officials apparently to demand Seoul ' s implementation of a bilateral agreement on the wartime sex slavery issue , a diplomatic source said Wednesday . Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine asked for the meetings with officials including Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo - ahn , Defense Minister Han Min - koo and Unification Minister Hong Yong - pyo , according to the source . The request was made right after the ambassador returned to Seoul on Tuesday night , nearly three months after he was recalled amid diplomatic friction over a girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan ' s wartime sexual slavery of Korean women . The statue was built in front of its consulate late last year in the southern port city of Busan . Tokyo has demanded its immediate removal , saying that it runs counter to the spirit of the deal the two countries reached in late 2015 to resolve the long - running rift over Japan ' s atrocity of forcing Korean women into front - line brothels during World War II . The South Korean government has urged an appropriate solution to the dispute but been reluctant to make a promise to get it removed or transferred to another place , saying that it is not in its purview to do so since the statue was built by civic groups . Critics , meanwhile , demand the cancellation of the 2015 accord , saying that the Japanese government still refuses to recognize its legal responsibility . They also argue that the deal was reached without consulting the victims . Under the deal on Dec . 28 , 2015 , Tokyo apologized and agreed to provide 1 billion yen ( US $ 8 . 9 million ) for the creation of a foundation aimed at helping the victims , euphemistically called comfort women . They also agreed to resolve the rift over the issue " once and for all . " South Korea is to hold an election in May to fill the top office left vacant by the impeachment of former president Park Geun - hye . Major presidential candidates hinted at renegotiating or scrapping the deal . ( END )