Four South Korean woman lawmakers visited Japan Monday to protest against nationalistic politicians for their allegations that the country was justified in using foreign sex slaves during World War II.

Ruling Saenuri Party Reps. Kim Hee-jung, Ryu Ji-young and Kim Hyun-sook, and Rep. You Seung-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party arrived in Tokyo for a three-day visit to deliver letters of protest to Japanese lawmakers and civic groups.

All four lawmakers serve on the parliamentary committee for women and family affairs.

“These reckless remarks on sex slaves recur because the Japanese government has not fundamentally repented for its colonial rule over Korea,” You told Yonhap News Agency by phone. “We will strongly urge the Japanese government to apologize and provide legal compensation.”

Japan’s World War II military mobilized up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, as sex slaves during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions between South Korea and Japan have flared anew in recent weeks after Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka and co-leader of the nationalist Japan Restoration Party, tried to justify his country’s use of foreign sex slaves during the war.

Shingo Nishimura, a six-term lawmaker of the same Japanese party, has defended the mayor’s remarks, claiming that Japan is full of Korean prostitutes.

In their meeting with Japanese lawmakers, the South Korean lawmakers plan to present a resolution You submitted to the National Assembly last week that condemns the Japanese politicians’ remarks and calls for an official apology.

The lawmakers also plan to visit the Philippines later this week to comfort Filipino victims of Japan’s sex slavery and meet with Filipino lawmakers over ways to jointly handle the issue. (Yonhap News)