Japan‘s top diplomats in South Korea will return home this week in protest of a new statue recently set up in Busan to remember Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sex slavery, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine plans to leave for Tokyo via Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on Monday morning, while the Japanese consul general in Busan, Yasuhiro Morimoto, will also return to Japan the same day.

Last week, Japan decided to temporarily call in its top diplomats in South Korea, in protest against the statue installed at the end of last year by a civic group in front of its Consulate General building in the southern port city of Busan.

Tokyo also announced a halt to the ongoing negotiation on a currency swap agreement between the two countries and the postponement of a high-level cooperation meeting. (Yonhap)