The South Korean Foreign Ministry on Friday slammed Japan's attempt to retract its past apology to " comfort women", a euphemism for South Korean women coerced into prostitution in Japanese military brothels during World War II.

A foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity that the Japanese government must not take benighted and thoughtless actions, which will inflict "unbearable pains and scars" once again on the South Korean victims of sex slavery.

The denouncement came a day after Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga indicated an overall review over interviews with 16 South Korean comfort women, who identified themselves as sex slaves during World War II.

The interviews were conducted in 1993 by Japanese officials in Seoul for five days, resulting later that year in the Kono Statement, an official apology made by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono for the forcible prostitution by the Japanese Imperial Army.

More than 200,000 young women, many of them South Koreans, were forced into the sex slavery at the Japanese military brothels during the devastating world war triggered by the Japanese militarists. Among the 237 South Korean women who identified themselves as former sex slaves, only 56 are alive.

Asked by a nationalist Japanese lawmaker whether to re-examine the 21-year-old interviews, Suga said at a lower house budget committee meeting that it will be desirable to review it from the academic perspective, hinting that a government-led team will verify accounts by the comfort women.

The South Korean official said on the phone that the Japanese government acknowledged the forcibleness of the sexual servitude, including direct and indirect intervention by the Japanese Imperial Army into the military brothel system, through the Kono Statement.

Despite the past acknowledgment and apology, the official Japanese government spokesman made such remarks of establishing a team to verify the contents of comfort women's accounts, which means an attempt to refute the Kono Statement and turn back the clock of history, the official said.

Japanese nationalists have insisted that there was no official document found to prove the "forcible" conscription of comfort women, seeking to discredit the interviews by the South Korean sex slaves. The first cabinet headed by Shinzo Abe had maintained such position from 2006 to 2007.

In addition to members of the current Abe cabinet, many other nationalists made far-rightist comments, sparking global outrage and condemnation, especially from South Korea and China. Those nationalist comments reminded Asian victims of Japan's brutal past militarism.

Katsuto Momii, new head of Japanese public broadcaster NHK, said in his inaugural news conference last month that "comfort women" existed in any country at war in France and Germany, as well as in Japan.

Momii reiterated the insistence of Japanese rightists that all issues, including comfort women, have already been concluded with the 1965 treaty of packaged compensation, under which South Korea and Japan normalized their diplomatic relations.

Ties between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since Abe took office in December 2012. Abe paid respect to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in December last year, infuriating Asian neighbors as it honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals and other war-dead during the World War II.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was sworn in as the head of state in February last year, has refused to hold summit with Abe, citing his wrong perception of history and no repentance over past atrocities.

US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced hopes for eased tensions between the two US allies during his visit to Seoul last week, saying that South Korea and Japan can "put history behind and move relations forward." The US top diplomat's remarks came ahead of President Barack Obama's trip to Asia in April.

Following Kerry's visit, senior Foreign Ministry officials from South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul Tuesday, but the South Korean foreign ministry spokesman played down the meeting, saying that the meeting itself will not be of any importance.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said that what is more important is how Japan will act to resolve the territorial and historical disputes of South Korea.