The United States says it will continue to use both the terms "comfort women" and "sex slaves" to refer to the women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. made clear to both the South Korean and Japanese governments that the U.S. uses the terms interchangeably and will continue to do so.

Earlier in March, during her meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “enforced sex slaves” should be used instead of the term “comfort women.” Clinton reportedly conveyed to Seoul that she intends to make official the usage of “enforced sex slaves.”

When asked about Japan’s intention to take the territorial dispute over the Dokdo islets to the International Court of Justice, Nuland only said that the U.S. hopes South Korea and Japan will smoothly work out the matter.