The oldest Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery in brothels run by Japan's military during World War II has died at the age of 94, a civic group supporting the aging survivors said Monday.

Park Seo-woon died on Dec. 4 of old age in northeast China's Hunchun city in Jilin province, said an official at the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

Park has lived in China since she was discharged from servicing the Japanese military in 1937 when she was diagnosed with a disease, according to the group.

Park was one of 65 surviving government-registered victims of Japan's sexual enslavement, euphemistically called "comfort women," during World War II.

Seoul's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family notified the group that Park died on Dec. 4, the official said.

Japan has snubbed South Korea's proposal to hold bilateral talks to discuss the issue of an official apology to and compensation for the surviving comfort women.

Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945, has acknowledged that its wartime military used sex slaves. Tokyo refuses to issue an apology or compensate the victims individually, however, arguing that the issue was settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.

South Korean officials refute that claim, saying the issue can't be regarded as being fully resolved by the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement because it was a "crime against humanity."

According to historians, up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese brothels during World War II.

Japan's former wartime sexual enslavement is becoming an increasingly urgent priority as most surviving comfort women are elderly and fear they may die before they receive compensation or an apology from Japan.

(Yonhap News)