Japan envoy returns despite statue impasse

TOKYO - Japan said on Monday that it is sending back its ambassador to South Korea despite an ongoing impasse over a "comfort woman" statue, stressing that it is not meant to be a compromise.

Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine was recalled from Seoul on Jan 9 as part of a protest by Tokyo against a "comfort woman" statue erected in South Korea's port city of Busan, dedicated to women and girls forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels.

The statue was erected in front of the Consulate General of Japan in Busan by a citizens' group advocating for the rights of Korean women who were coerced by the Imperial Japanese Army into sexual slavery during World War II.