A U.S. congressperson has said that trade disputes between South Korea and Japan stem from Tokyo's distortion of its past war of aggression, criticizing Tokyo's export controls against Seoul.

The Korea American Public Action Committee(KAPAC), a Los Angeles-based civic group of people with Korean ancestry, said on Monday that Brad Sherman, the chair of the House Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation, made the remarks during a keynote speech at an event it organized on Saturday. 

According to KAPAC, Sherman said that the U.S. never wants economic conflict between South Korea and Japan and that continued tensions would increase the U.S.' costs. 

Sherman reportedly said that Japan was wrong when it curbed exports of strategic materials to South Korea by suggesting the possibility that the materials could have been smuggled into North Korea. 

The lawmaker added he is well aware that the trade disputes stemmed from Japan's distortion of history and its past war of aggression.

Regarding nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea, Sherman proposed that Washington should "settle for less but sooner," saying that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not give up nuclear weapons without a solid guarantee of regime safety.