A South Korean court dismissed a lawsuit against Japan to compensate women forced to work in its World War II-era front-line brothels, a boost for Tokyo amid a series of Korean court rulings awarding damages that sent relations plummeting between the U.S. allies.

The issue of South Korea’s former “comfort women” forced into sexual slavery for Japan’s wartime army during its colonial domination of Korea has come to the spotlight with the release of a panel report on negotiations leading up to a deal with Japan on the matter.