1st LD: S. Korean president says wartime sex slavery issue can't be resolved by 2015 deal

SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday that the wartime sexual slavery issue cannot be resolved by a 2015 agreement with Japan.

Moon said that though the deal was an official promise approved by the leaders of both countries, he, as the president of South Korea, should make it clear again that the comfort women issue cannot be resolved by the 2015 deal.

The South Korean leader said he felt a heavy heart when he was briefed on a review report over the 2015 deal, presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told a press briefing.

Moon's comments came a day after Seoul's foreign ministry confirmed a secret deal in the 2015 agreement between the South Korean government under impeached President Park Geun-hye and the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over South Korean victims, who were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese military brothels during World War II. Enditem