South Korea is asking the United Nations to support its demand for compensation from Japan for the sexual enslavement of Korean women by Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

Shin Dong-ik, Seoul's deputy chief envoy to the U.N., told a General Assembly committee Wednesday that Japan's actions during this period constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity.

South Korea has been demanding for years that Tokyo take legal responsibility in the matter, and compensate the victims for their suffering.

But a Japanese diplomat told the U.N. committee that the issue of compensation for the so-called “comfort women” was settled by a 1965 bilateral agreement.