Japan has proposed setting up a government fund to resolve a longstanding disagreement with South Korea about slaves during world war two.
The “comfort women” were forced to work in Japanese military brothels.
The Japanese media reported that Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, had instructed his Foreign Minister, Fumio Kishida, to sort out the issue, which had dogged relations with South Korea for decades, during a visit to Seoul next week.
South Korea has previously maintained that Japanese apologies do not go far enough and has been critical of what it sees as japan’s reluctance to atone for its brutal wartime past.
But relations between the two counties have improved recently after they agreed to accelerate talks.
Mr Kishida was on Friday, reported to have arranged a surprise visit to South Korea in the hope of finding an early resolution.
He was speaking after Japanese media reports said that Mr Abe had instructed him to hold ministerial talks in Seoul as early as Monday to resolve the question.
Any fund will follow a similar one set up 1995 which ended after a decade. At that time, it was made clear that the money was raised from donations, not from the Japanese government.
