PYONGYANG, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of denying Japan's wartime forced sex slavery, urging it to atone for the crimes it committed.

    "They are historical facts that Japan can neither sidestep nor deny," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

    The statement came after Abe said last week that nothing can prove that the so-called "comfort women" were forced into sex slavery during World War II.

    The remark set off widespread outrage, especially in the countries that were invaded by Japan during WWII.

    "The prime minister of a country dares challenge the historical facts and the unbiased public opinion of the international community," said the statement, adding that "this clearly indicates how vulgar Japan has become in its conscience and morality."

    Abe also said on Monday that Japan would not offer a fresh apology on the issue, adding that Tokyo will abide by a 1993 statement made by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono that acknowledged and apologized for the sex slavery history.

    "It is the revival of Japanese militarism that the Japanese authorities are seeking by zealously defending the hideous wartime crimes," the statement said.

    It is estimated some 200,000 Asian women were forcibly drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII to serve as sex slaves. Surviving so-called 'comfort women' have demanded an apology and compensation from the Japanese government.