A South Korean civic group that advocates for the rights of Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery said it is baffled and disappointed by President Moon Jae-in's remarks on the controversial 2015 Seoul-Tokyo deal to settle the issue.

The remarks by Lee Na-young, the head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, were made on Wednesday at a weekly rally in Seoul to protest Japan's wartime atrocities.

At a New Year's press conference on Monday, Moon recognized that the 2015 deal is an official agreement and said his administration is perplexed by a recent court ruling that ordered Japan to compensate the victims while the two sides are seeking to improve ties.

The Council questioned why Seoul is now on the defensive or keeping silent on the issue, after the president, who worked as a human rights lawyer in the past, had stressed the "principle of truth and justice" in 2018.

The group also emphasized that the two countries' future-oriented relations can only be achieved when Japan admits to its crimes, finds the truth and makes efforts to prevent a recurrence.