[JURIST] A district court in Tokyo Wednesday dismissed an action filed on behalf of eight Chinese women who claim they were forced to act as sex slaves, or "comfort women" [SFCU backgrounder; JURIST report], for Japanese soldiers during World War II. The plaintiffs, teenagers during the war, sought both monetary compensation and an apology from the Japanese government, and their lawyers said they plan to appeal the district court's ruling. The Japanese courts have dismissed most similar claims filed by other women seeking damages, though two cases are still pending in Japan's Supreme Court. Reuters has more. The Japan Times has local coverage.

In June 2005, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] rejected [JURIST report] a similar lawsuit [PDF text] filed against the Japanese government by 15 women from the Philippines, Taiwan, China, and South Korea, who claimed Japanese soldiers had held them as sex slaves during World War II.