Japan Mayor Sex Slaves Comments Spark Outrage

South Korean women demonstrate outside the Japanese embassy after controversial sex slaves comments made by a Japanese official.

The Osaka, Japan mayor, Toru Hashimoto, sparked outrage by saying that comfort women – women forced into sexual slavery in brothels run by the Japanese army – were ‘necessary’.

Toru Hashimoto caused further anger by adding that he believed there was no evidence that Japan’s military forced women into prostitution.

An eighty-six-year-old former sex slave said that she’s angry by the comments.

“How could they speak like that even though they have parents and children? I want to rip his muzzle apart so that he can’t make a reckless remark ever again”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday distanced his government from the comments.

He said his administration held a “different position” adding that he felt “sadness and regret” for the suffering of comfort women.

Historians estimate up to 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in the Imperial Japanese Army’s brothels.