South Korea proposed an official bilateral discussion with Japan to address issues concerning former “comfort women” who were forcibly taken by its army for sexual slavery during World War II, officials said Thursday.

It is the first time for Seoul to make such a proposal to the Tokyo government, which has long refused to take a sincere compensatory action for the victims.

The move comes after the Constitutional Court ruled on Aug. 30 that it is a violation of victims’ human rights that the government does not proactively engage in efforts to resolve the issues surrounding them.

The Foreign Ministry called in Nobukatsu Kanehara, Japan’s deputy chief of mission in Seoul, and made the proposal to the Japanese government, ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters.

The proposal was made based on a Seoul-Tokyo pact concerning the right of claim to address bilateral issues. A provision under the pact stipulates that a bilateral conflict be addressed through diplomatic channels and that should the resolution fail, the issue be referred to a mediation committee.

On Wednesday, the government held a meeting with legal experts and scholars to discuss how to interpret the provision. It said that such a discussion with Tokyo is needed as there are differences in each government’s interpretation of it.

Attention is being drawn to how the discussion will be carried out as the Japanese government is said to believe that the right of claim for each individual victim has run out.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)