Declaring “history is harsh,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan offered solemn condolences on Wednesday for the Americans who died in World War II as he became the first Japanese leader to address a joint meeting of Congress.

But Abe stopped short of offering an apology for Japanese conduct during the war, including sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of Asian women by Japan’s imperial army.

South Korea and a number of US lawmakers have sought such an apology, but Abe did not offer one.

Instead, he expressed “feelings of deep remorse over the war” and acknowledged that “our actions brought suffering to the peoples in Asian countries, we must not avert our eyes from that.”

He also sought support for a 12-nation trans-Pacific trade pact that has divided Congress and provoked opposition in Japan, telling lawmakers that its about spreading the shared values of rule of law, democracy, and freedom.