Korean women forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese colonial rule and Japanese civic groups have held a rally in Tokyo calling for Japan to apologize and compensate the victims.

Three South Korean women, plaintiffs of a lawsuit against Japanese firm Nachi-Fujikoshi, held the rally on Friday with the civic groups in front of the company's headquarters in Tokyo.

They asked the Japanese government and the firm to offer apologies and pay compensation for forcing young Korean girls to serve as sex slaves.

It is the first rally held in Japan by South Korean victims of sexual slavery since South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that Japanese firms are responsible to compensate people it forced to labor.