South Korea has demanded at a U.N. meeting that Japan take legal responsibility for Korean women who served as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

South Korea's deputy chief envoy to the U.N. Shin Dong-ik said Tuesday in the 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York that the issue of “comfort women” is a crime against humanity and was not resolved by a 1965 pact that normalized diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan. He added the Japanese government still has legal responsibility.

However, Japan believes that the Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1951 and the South Korea-Japan pact of 1965 have already settled individual rights for compensation for sexual slavery.

This is the first time the government has mentioned Japan's legal responsibility for the wartime sex slave issue in the U.N. General Assembly.

South Korea’s envoy also said that U.N. human rights agencies are of the position that the comfort women issue remains unresolved, and urged the Japanese government to be sincere in bilateral discussions with South Korea on the matter.