U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should make a clearer statement on the country's wartime sexual enslavement of women, according to a South Korean lawmaker.

Pelosi made the remark during a meeting with Rep. Kim Moo-sung, chairman of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party and other party lawmakers, as Kim expressed gratitude for her role in passing a landmark 2007 House resolution on the issue, according to Rep. Na Kyung-won, chairwoman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

Tuesday marked the eighth anniversary of the resolution that urged Japan to formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility for the atrocity in a clear and unequivocal manner.

Kim asked Pelosi to pay greater attention to the issue, according to Na.

Na said Pelosi asked her what message Abe should issue in the future, and she responded that the Japanese leader should make a message of apology on the 70th anniversary of World War II next month.

Kim also met with Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel and asked the U.S. exercise its influence over Japan to make sure that Abe does not distort history in an upcoming statement he plans to issue next month to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Kim also stressed that Japan's distortion of history can never be acceptable.

On growing relations with China, Kim told Russel that the strengthening ties with Beijing are based on the solid alliance with the U.S.

Russel reaffirmed the strong U.S. commitment to South Korea's defense, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and unification of the two Koreas, according to participants in the meeting.

Kim's delegation also met with Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Royce's office said in a statement that the two sides discussed the importance of the U.S.-Korea partnership, including Korea's interest in participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an envisioned free trade deal among 12 Asia-Pacific nations, including the U.S. and Japan.

"As a long-time supporter of a strong U.S.-South Korea relationship, I also discussed with Mr. Kim the importance of staying committed to remembering the terrible human rights abuses that occurred during World War II," Royce said in the statement, referring to the sexual slavery issue.

"I've long fought misguided efforts to minimize the suffering endured by hundreds of thousands of women at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army," he said.

Kim had planned to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry, but the meeting did not happen as the top American diplomat was tied up with a Senate hearing on the recent landmark deal on Iran's nuclear program, officials said. (Yonhap)