TOKYO, March 14 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said here Friday that he and his cabinet will not revise Japan's apology for enslaving women in military brothels during the World War II.

Abe made the remarks during a Diet session, marking the first time that the right-leaning leader clarifies his attitude toward the 1993 statement by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono.

Kono acknowledged in the statement that the Japanese government and its Imperial Army was involved in the recruitment of between 200,000 and 400,000 girls and women and forced them to serve in brothels.

"I'm not thinking about revising (the statement) under my Cabinet," Abe was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo News.

The Japanese government mulls to set up a team to re-examine the "Kono Statement" to "understand the background" of the statement, referring to the testimonies made by South Korean women who were forced into the brothels and the very testimonies founded the basis of the world-recognized statement.

Meanwhile, Abe also said at the Diet session that he follows Japan's apology issued in 1995 by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama to countries that suffered Japan's colonial rule and wartime brutal aggression.

"As for my own historical views, I have taken up the position held by previous Cabinets," he was quoted by Kyodo.

The 1995 "Murayama Statement" said that "Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations."

Murayama went on to say in the statement that "in the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of that history."

Abe's ambiguity on the two statements and Japan's wartime history was slammed by the international community, especially victims of its wartime wrongdoings, and has frayed Japan's relations with neighboring China and South Korea.

Analysts here said the position altering by Abe was due to pressures from Japan's key ally the United States, which also expressed concerns over Abe's attitude toward history, in a move to tackle current diplomatic dilemma.

Japan's relations with its neighbors such as South Korea and China are frayed as Japan is trying to whitewash its wartime history, including the sexual slavery or "comfort women" issue.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier that the re-examination on "Kono Statement" "is an added insult to the honor and dignity of the victims."

Akitaka Saiki, Japanese vice foreign minister, visited Seoul this week and held talks with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong in an effort to mend bilateral ties.

Japanese officials hope the visit could pave the way for talks between Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit on March 24-25 in the Netherlands as the two leaders has yet to hold a summit since they took offices.