South Korea pressed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe  Tuesday to clarify his perceptions on wartime sex slaves.
  

The essence of the "comfort women" issue is that the Japanese military established and operated brothels against the will of the victims during World War II, Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said at a press briefing.
  

They were forced to work there, which is stated in Japan's 1993 Kono Statement, he pointed out.
  

On a visit to the United States, Abe again characterized the women as victims of "human trafficking."
  

"It's heart-wrenching to think about women who fell victim to human trafficking and suffered unspeakable pain," he said at a meeting with students at Harvard Kennedy School in a Boston suburb.
  

Abe stopped short of stating that he fully embraces Tokyo's formal apology in 1993 for Japanese troops using Korean and Chinese women as sex slaves during World War II. More than 200,000 women were coerced into sexual slavery, according to historians.
  

"If referring to them as victims of human trafficking is intended to pass the responsibility for the problem to civilian networks and evade the Japanese government's involvement and responsibility, it is to gloss over the essence of the comfort women issue," Noh said. "It can never be accepted by our government and the international community."
  

As to the new U.S.-Japan defense deal, Noh dismissed a claim that it demonstrates South Korea's diplomatic inability.
  

Even if the role of Japan's Self-Defense Forces is expanded, South Korea's position has been "reflected sufficiently" in the agreement, he said.
  

It is not a matter of failure or success in Seoul's diplomacy, added Noh.
  

South Koreans are concerned that Japan's military will again enter the peninsula without their country's consent. Japan colonized Korea from 1910-1945.
  

The bilateral defense guidelines call for Japan to respect a third country's sovereignty in exercising the right to the collective self-defense. (Yonhap)