[JURIST] After initial expressions of concern and regret [JURIST report], several top Japanese politicians said over the weekend they would ignore a proposed US House of Representatives resolution [text; H Res 121 summary] calling for Japan to apologize to "comfort women" used by the Japanese army as sex slaves during World War II. Hidenao Nakagawa [official profile], secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party [official website], and Foreign Minister Taro Aso [official website] both shrugged off the resolution as a shrewd political move to strain political relations between Japan and the US. Aso said he believes either North Korea or China were the motivating force behind the resolution's creation.

The resolution urges Japan to apologize to women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. The "comfort women" [Amnesty International backgrounder] include almost 200,000 Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Philippine women the Japanese enslaved to serve their soldiers in army brothels. AFP has more.