S Korea's Song raps Abe's remarks on sex slaves

South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min Soon criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday for disputing that the Imperial Japanese Army forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Anyone who doubts the sexual slavery by Japanese imperialism during World War II has to squarely face the truth," Song said after giving a speech in Washington, according to Yonhap. "Such remarks do not help to forge healthy and future-oriented relations between the two countries." Song is the first member of the South Korean cabinet to lash out at Abe for his reported remarks on Thursday that there is no evidence to prove that women were coerced into working in brothels run by Japan's military during the war.