'Comfort women' deal with Japan flawed

South Korea's 2015 deal with Japan over Tokyo's wartime sex slavery was "seriously flawed", President Moon Jae-In said yesterday, telling officials to re-examine the controversial agreement.

The issue of women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II is a hugely emotional subject that has marred ties between the South and its former colonial ruler, Japan.

Moon's comments came a day after Seoul's foreign ministry said the deal -- which was pushed and endorsed by his predecessor Park Geun-Hye -- was faulty and had "failed to reflect the victims' views".

The unpopular agreement was meant to end the decades-long dispute with a Japanese apology and a payment of 1 billion yen ($8.8 million) to survivors.

But it sparked anger among some survivors seeking an explicit apology from the Japanese government for the wartime abuses.

Following Moon's decision to order a review of the deal after being elected to office this year, a task force published a report Wednesday saying the agreement was rushed and did not do enough to seek out the opinions of the victims, often known by the euphemism "comfort women".

"It has been confirmed that the 2015 deal ... was seriously flawed," Moon said in a statement released yesterday.

"Although the 2015 deal was an official agreement endorsed by the leaders of both countries, I'd like to make it clear that the deal cannot solve this issue of 'comfort women'."