Police on Friday apprehended a 33-year-old woman who struck a statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery with a hammer.

The woman, who has a history of schizophrenia, was caught at around 12:30 p.m. after she hit the statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul three to four times with a 40-cm-long hammer, investigators said. 

The statue was not seriously damaged, they said.

Police said that she was rambling when she was asked why she damaged the statue.

Investigators found that she was hospitalized for three months some five years ago for schizophrenia, and for two months at a later time due to the same psychiatric problem.

The statue has been one of the thorny issues in the relations between South Korea and Japan. Tokyo has long demanded that the statue be removed, while Seoul has maintained that it has no authority to eliminate it given that it was erected by civic groups. (Yonhap)