Historians say at least tens of thousands of women, many of them Korean, were lured or coerced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Army during World War II. The issue remains one of the most intractable disputes stemming from Japan’s decades of colonial rule over Korea, from 1910 to the end of the war in 1945.

Under the 2015 agreement, Japan apologized to the women and expressed responsibility for their suffering, and it provided $8.8 million to establish the foundation in South Korea, meant to provide care for the surviving women in their old age. In return, South Korea promised not to criticize Japan over the issue again.

The agreement, negotiated by the government of the president at the time, Park Geun-hye, was hailed by the United States, which has urged Seoul and Tokyo to leave their historical disputes behind in hopes of forming a united front to deter North Korea and counter China’s expanding influence in the region.

But the deal has been deeply unpopular among South Koreans, including some of the surviving victims, who say it fell short of official reparations and a declaration of legal responsibility on Japan’s part. Of the 239 South Korean women who have came forward since the 1990s to say that they were forced to work in the brothels, only 27 are still alive.

One of the survivors, Kim Bok-dong, 92, welcomed the government’s decision on Wednesday.

“Abe must apologize and pay reparations,” she said, referring to the Japanese leader, in a recording that supporters made from her hospital bed, which they played during a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday. Some of the survivors and their advocates have held a rally there every Wednesday since 1992, demanding Japanese apologies and reparations.