JAPAN should face up to history, take responsibility and properly handle the issue of “comfort women,” Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said yesterday.

“The forced use of so-called ‘comfort women’ was one of the most serious crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists in World War II,” Li said at a press conference on the sidelines of the meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

“Comfort women” is a euphemism for wartime sex slaves.

“Taking history as a mirror and looking forward is the simplest, most realistic way of solving the problem,” Li added.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred fresh anger last week with comments that there was no evidence to validate claims that Asian women were coerced into serving as sex slaves for the Japanese army.

It is estimated that during World War II, some 200,000 Asian women were forcibly drafted into the Japanese army to serve as sex slaves.

At the conference, Li also called upon Iran to step up cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying China hopes to see the resumption of diplomatic negotiations for regional peace and stability.

China advocates a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through dialogue, and China is willing to keep close contacts with all the parties concerned to make new progress in the talks, Li said.(Xinhua)