Civil society support for the Korea-Japan agreement on resolving the issue of Japan's wartime sexual slavery will be crucial to the deal's success, the State Department said Tuesday.

"Everyone will make their own judgments about this agreement. But I do hope, we do hope, as the United States, that others, including here in the U.S., will support this agreement and its full implementation as we do," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said at a regular briefing.

"We believe it's an important gesture that will promote healing and reconciliation and the support of civil society for this settlement will be crucial to its success in the end," he said.

On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, reached the agreement that centers on Japan's admission of responsibility for the wartime crime and plans to pay reparations to the victims.

The deal removes the biggest thorn in relations between Seoul and Tokyo, and offers hope not only for greater cooperation between the two neighbors, but also for significant progress in U.S. efforts to forge stronger security cooperation with the two allies in a region marked by a rising China.

But some civic groups in South Korea, including one that has spoken for victims, denounced the agreement as a diplomatic collusion between the two countries, arguing that Japan should have offered a clearer apology and acknowledged its legal responsibility for the atrocity.

Meanwhile, Lee Jung-sil, president of the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, said the group welcomes the agreement and hopes it will open the door for sincere and legal reparations and reconciliation.

She also said the group will keep an eye on how it will be implemented.

"This agreement is an important achievement and a big step toward improvement in Korea-Japan relations," she told reporters.

"The Coalition for Comfort Women Issues ... welcomes the government's negotiation efforts, but we will watch how implementation goes as there are many problems in the details."

Pointing out that the agreement was reached without participation of victims and groups representing them, Lee stressed that consent and understanding from victims must be sought in the course of implementing the agreement. (Yonhap)