TOKYO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Japan has suspended talks on a forex swap arrangement with South Korea over a statue commemorating women forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels during World War Two, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Friday.

Suga said on Thursday that the erection of the statue in the southern South Korean city of Busan was "extremely regrettable" and that the government of Japan planned to ask for its removal as soon as possible.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Kim Coghill)