South Korea plans to launch a committee as early as next month to handle preparations for a foundation tasked with supporting South Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, a government source said Thursday.

The foundation is a centerpiece of last December's agreement under which the two countries agreed to settle their decades-long dispute over the so-called "comfort women." Tokyo apologized for the crime, acknowledged responsibility, and pledged to pay 1 billion yen ($9.1 million) into the foundation once it is set up by Seoul.

The government has begun to select members of the preparatory committee with plans to launch it as early as next month, the source said.

Until now, the ministries of foreign affairs and gender equality have had informal meetings with members of the private sector, including former Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, to prepare for the foundation, the source added.

The implementation of the deal has faced various setbacks amid reports that Tokyo accepted it in exchange for the relocation of a statue symbolizing the victims from outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

Some of the victims have also refused to accept the deal and demanded it be scrapped.

South Korea and Japan have continued to hold director-general level talks over the implementation of the deal with the aim of launching the foundation as soon as possible, according to officials here.

Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45. (Yonhap)