This moment is decades in the making. Japan agreed to pay more than $8 million to support the surviving Korean women dubbed "comfort women" -- a euphemism for sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during the war.
VIDEO: 'Comfort women' agreement draws criticism from Bay Area group
Japan and South Korea's foreign ministers finalized the deal after a-year-and-a half of intense negotiations.
READ MORE: SF supervisors vote to create memorial for WWII 'comfort women'
[Ads /]
It is a compromise -- one that drew new protests by Koreans who say the apology doesn't go far enough and that the $8.3 million should go directly to the victims as compensation instead of into a fund that helps them.
That is the feeling some of the San Francisco supervisors expressed back in September. They voted to create a memorial honoring the comfort women, after hearing from 87-year-old survivor Yong Soo Lee.
READ MORE: Former WWII 'comfort woman' honored in San Francisco
Supervisor Eric Mar said, "How could there be an agreement when victims are not involved in that agreement? I sense there is an apology, but there's not justice. The $8.3 million to be placed into a Korean foundation is a joke."
But the U.S. State Department applauds the deal, as does House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. Her statement, in part, said: "For the women who survive, may this agreement bring peace. For the Korean and Japanese people, may this agreement signal the start of a new era of brotherhood."
This week's deal includes a promise by both sides to stop criticizing each other and to consider the issue resolved, even if it won't ever be for the now 46 surviving comfort women.