A Seoul civic group representing Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II slammed the Japanese government Saturday for its attempt to undermine the credibility of its 1993 apology, adding the move is clearly a "regression of history."
   "(Japan) has undermined (the Kono statement) by saying that it was written upon the request from the South Korean government," the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery said.
"The move is a provocation against the global society which yearns for the eradication of wartime violence on women and the rightful history," it added. "Japan has pushed the prolonged debate to the starting point."
   The remarks came as a team of experts appointed by the Japanese government, which reviewed the background to the Kono statement, said Friday that Seoul and Tokyo officials had fine-tuned the sensitive wording of the statement.