 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-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". REUTERS/Hong Ki-won/Yonhap 
 
 The foreign ministers of the two countries said after a meeting in Seoul that the “comfort women” issue would be “finally and irreversibly resolved” if all conditions were met. South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to take the opportunity to boost bilateral ties following the agreement, in which Japan made an apology and promised about one billion yen ($8.3 million) for a fund to help former “comfort women.” 
 
 The accord was welcomed by the United States, which has been keen for improved relations between its two major Asian allies in the face of an increasingly assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea. “We should never allow this problem to drag on into the next generation,” he said, echoing remarks he made marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two on August 15. “From now on, Japan and South Korea will enter a new era.” 
 
 Japan was “painfully aware of its responsibilities” for the affront to the women’s honor and dignity, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference in Seoul with his South Korean counterpart. “Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences.” 
 
 Calling the agreement “epoch-making”, Kishida told reporters later: “I believe this has set up a stage for advancement of security cooperation between Japan and South Korea, as well as among Japan, the United States and South Korea”. It is estimated that up to 200,000 women were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during WW2, many of them Korean. Only 46 survivors remain of the 238 women in South Korea who came forward, and their average age is 89. The so-called comfort women have been the most painful legacy of Japan’s colonial rule of Korea, which lasted from 1910 until Japan’s defeat in 1945. Japan had been insisting South Korea state its intention to lay the issue to rest this time, since many officials resent what they see as South Korea’s use of the “comfort women” issue for domestic political gain despite past steps taken by Tokyo. Former Japanese diplomat Kunihiko Miyake said the timing was right for the deal, since Abe wanted to resolve the dispute this year, the 70th anniversary of World War Two’s end, and Park doubtless felt it was better to do so well ahead of a parliamentary election set for next year. The 88-year-old told the BBC: "I wonder whether the talks took place with the victims really in mind.
– South Korea and Japan say they've reached a deal to resolve a disturbing legacy of World War II—the issue of sex slaves, or "comfort women," forced to work in Japanese brothels for soldiers. An estimated 200,000 women, many of them Korean, were forced to take part, though only 46 remain alive today in South Korea, reports the BBC. Under the deal, Japan will pay $8.3 million to a fund to help victims, though the New York Times says the agreement has vague wording that doesn't "clarify whether the responsibility that the Japanese government acknowledged was legal or moral." Still, the countries say that if Japan does what it has promised, the issue will be "finally and irreversibly resolved." But the newspaper quotes one survivor who says it does not go far enough. "I will ignore it completely,” says 88-year-old Lee Yong-soo, who wants Japan to unequivocally admit legal responsibility. The deal doesn't go that far, though it comes with an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: He "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," says Japan's foreign minister. South Korea says it will now consider removing a statue memorializing victims erected by activists outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011. The pact is expected to clear the way for stronger military relations between the two nations, a development that Reuters notes will be welcomed by the US because of an increasingly aggressive China.