Group petitions for 'comfort women' redress

An international group of young people supporting human rights called Monday for an official apology and compensation for women rounded up to provide sex to Imperial Japanese Army soldiers before and during World War II.

Representatives of the Japan branch of the Asia Pacific Youth Network (APYN) visited the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo and presented a petition signed by 4,154 people and addressed to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The Hong Kong-based APYN, set up in 2008 by Amnesty International, has about 2,000 members in more than 15 countries and regions in Asia and the Pacific.

The group collected the signatures between January and late April. In Japan, South Korea, Australia and Thailand, 500 to 1,000 people in each country signed the petition, the group said.

The victims, euphemistically called "comfort women," included Korean, Chinese and other women in the Asia-Pacific region.

Survivors and their supporters have repeatedly called for an official apology even after Yohei Kono, then chief Cabinet secretary, apologized in a 1993 statement that acknowledged Japan's military was involved in the operation of wartime "comfort stations."