They were called “comfort women”, words invented by those who exploited and crushed them in the vilest ways, the words of the men who reduced them to sexual slavery, who made war spoils of them. Up to 200,000 women, many of them Korean, spent the second world war as captives in brothels run for Japanese troops. The plight of these women has been the subject of endless political and diplomatic dispute, with some even attempting to deny the reality of their ordeal. Among the many horrors of the war in the Pacific and of the Japanese occupation of many countries and territories, the story of these women has long needed to be acknowledged, and those responsible for their enslavement held to account.

Certainly, an unequivocal apology from Japan has been long overdue. Now, more than 70 years after the end of the war, Japan and Korea have decided to “finally and irreversibly resolve” the issue. Japan has declared it is “painfully aware of its responsibilities” and its prime minister Shinzō Abe expressed his “most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences”. Japan will give 1bn yen to a fund for surviving victims (46 “comfort women” are still alive in South Korea today). The South Korean president Park Geun-hye has spoken of “building trust, and a new relationship” between both countries.

Strategic considerations have certainly helped the two countries to reach this point, after decades of strained relations over the wartime record. Japan and South Korea have come to recognise they need better security cooperation in the face of an increasingly assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea – something their mutual ally the United States has wanted to encourage. Laying some of the ghosts of the past to rest can help create a basis for such cooperation in a region where territorial disputes and nationalist tensions can threaten stability at any moment. Critics may well doubt the sincerity of Japan’s apologies – after all, they are not exactly the first, and previous gestures were often qualified in ways that made them unacceptable to the Koreans. The most vocal defenders of “comfort women” might also regret that the agreement does not include direct government compensations from Japan – a sign that responsibility may not be legally acknowledged. On the opposite side, some Japanese feel their government has been short-changed.

Still, a clear step forward has been taken. Squarely confronting its colonial and military past is essential if Japan wants to build new relations with nations upon which its army inflicted such terrible damage before and during the second world war. Shinzō Abe has been known to blow the flames of nationalism in his country, but in this case he has been visionary, or at least mellowed his stance. It is anyone’s guess whether Angela Merkel’s visit earlier this year to Japan played a role, alongside American pressures: she referred to Germany’s own experience and the need to reckon with the past and to honestly deal with the demands of former enemies. Korea was a Japanese colony during the war. This is a complex history whose exact nature will perhaps continue to be disputed. Japan’s central, undeniable responsibility is a fact – but so is the role of the Korean profiteers and private Japanese recruiters who lured or trapped women into brothels.

A diplomatic agreement can only go so far in reconciling conflicting national memories. A few years ago, one Korean historian claimed some of the women, poor and desperate, volunteered for prostitution. But what cannot be doubted is the suffering itself. “Comfort” is a terrible euphemism. What these women experienced was a brutal exploitation that left indelible scars. That is why this agreement matters: it is a recognition of facts and of responsibility. As one of the survivors, 88-year-old Yoo Hee-nam, said: “If I look back, we’ve lived a life deprived of our basic rights. We’ve waited so long…”