Leaders of Japan and South Korea have persisted in their positions on issues concerning Korean women who were allegedly forced into brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in the ancient Japanese capital, Kyoto, on Sunday.

At the start of the meeting, Noda said the 2 countries are allies of the United States and share basic values and ideas for peace and prosperity of East Asia.

The prime minister added that he wants to cooperate with the president in a multilayered and forward-looking relationship based on his personal trust with Lee and active exchanges among people.

Lee brought up the issue of the so-called "comfort women" and urged Japan to show genuine courage by giving priority to solving the matter.

Noda responded by saying that the issue has already been legally settled but he will study ways to deal with it from a humanitarian perspective.

He said it's regrettable that a comfort women statue was erected recently near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and requested prompt removal of it.

After the meeting, Noda told reporters that he repeated to Lee Japan's position that the comfort women issue has been settled. He also said he told Lee that Japan has devoted and will continue to devote various efforts to resolve the issue from a humanitarian perspective.

Source: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20111218_11.html

Image credit: http://blogs.uco.edu/graduate/files/2010/09/Wuhan_1938_IJA1.jpg