South Korean protesters clashed with police on Thursday as they tried to disrupt the opening in Seoul of a Tokyo-funded foundation for women forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels.

The plight of the so-called "comfort women" is a hugely emotional issue that has marred relations between Seoul and Tokyo for decades and which, for many South Koreans, symbolizes the abuses of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.

In December, the two nations reached a "final and irreversible" agreement, under which Tokyo offered an apology and one billion yen ($8.5 million) to open the foundation for the dwindling number of comfort women who are still alive.