A group of activists in Seoul, protesting against Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, held a weekly rally Wednesday, expressing hope that it would be their last one.

More than 1,000 people gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, where a girl statue is located to symbolize those who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II, according to an organizing civic group. The victims are widely called "comfort women."

Local activists, joined by students and other citizens, have staged street rallies at the same venue every Wednesday. Marking the 1,399th event of its kind, the latest one came shortly after Japan promulgated a decision to cross out South Korea from its trusted trade partner list.

The Shinzo Abe administration is apparently using trade as a weapon to attack the Moon Jae-in administration for its approach on the issue of compensating Koreans coerced to toil at Japanese factories or mines during the war, when Korea was under Japan's colonial occupation.

The participants urged Japan to "recover the human rights and honor" of the comfort women.

In a statement, they demanded the Japanese government find the truth related to the atrocity and offer a formal apology to victims.

They shouted a slogan, "We wish today will be the last Wednesday" for the street protest. (Yonhap)