South Korea will "very soon" unveil details on the follow-up measures for a recently launched foundation that aims to help Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese colonial period, a foreign ministry official said Thursday.

The foundation was launched late last month under a deal reached between the two countries in December to resolve their deep-running rift over the victims, euphemistically called comfort women. Tokyo promised to contribute 1 billion yen ($9.9 million) to it.

On Tuesday, South Korea and Japan held a director-level meeting to discuss follow-up measures including when the promised money will be delivered and for what purposes it should be spent. An official who joined the meeting told reporters that they made "significant" progress.

"There will be a chance to talk very soon," Cho June-hyuck said at a regular briefing. "We cannot specify the date about when Japan will send the money but we think that it will come through in a way that would not cause any delay in the operation of the foundation."

It is expected that the details could be made public by the middle of next week.

Under the Dec. 28 deal, Japan expressed an apology for its colonial-era atrocities and agreed to launch a foundation dedicated to healing the scars of the surviving victims and supporting them.

The agreement that has been hailed a breakthrough in bilateral relations, however, drew flak from some victims and civic groups who have accused Seoul of striking a deal that lacked Japan's acknowledgment of its legal responsibility. They also said the agreement was reached without prior consultation with victims.

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. Forty South Korean victims, mostly in their late 80s, are currently known to be alive. (Yonhap)