TOKYO- The Japanese government said Thursday that Yasuhiro Morimoto, consul-general in Busan, South Korea, will be replaced after about a year in office.

It is rare for a Japanese consul-general in the southern South Korean city to be replaced in a year. Usually, the post is held for two years or longer.

The government recalled Morimoto and Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine for months earlier this year.

The recall was one of several measures Tokyo took in protest against a girl's statue symbolizing Korean comfort women installed in front of the consulate-general in Busan.

At that time, the Japanese government said the erection of the statue goes against the spirit of the December 2015 bilateral agreement to resolve a dispute over the comfort women, who were forced into prostitution for Japanese troops before and during World War II. (Jiji Press)