CCTV9英语新闻：Japanese associations: Comfort women issue far from settled（在线收听）

Historians and educators in Japan have demanded for related parties to together address the issue of Japan's military's use of sex slaves during world war two -- a thorny issue in ties between Asian countries. 

Fifteen associations released a joint statement, which knocked an agreement reached between Japan and South Korea last year to settle the row and refrain from criticisms on the issue of sex slaves, known in Japan as comfort women. 

The statement says this intra-government accord disregards the importance of historical education, and threatens to suppress historical research and any future solutions to the issue that research can provide. The statement says it is incapable of truly and fundamentally resolving the issue.