A memorial honoring "comfort women" forced by the Japanese into sexual slavery during World War II could be erected at Glendale Central Park by the end of July.

The city's Arts and Culture Commission examined the proposed design for the memorial on Thursday, and commissioner Razmik Grigorian was effusive in his praise.

"I really appreciate this," he said during a public hearing. "That's just an absolutely great idea."

Glendale community relations coordinator Dan Bell said the City Council will have its turn to examine the proposed design July 9.

If council members approve it, the memorial -- a bronze statue of a girl in traditional Korean attire, sitting on a chair -- could be installed on a plot of land adjacent to the Adult Recreation Center by the end of next month.

The City Council had voted in March to set aside that location for memorials, monuments and artifacts representing Glendale's seven sister cities.

Goseong and Gimpo in South Korea proposed donating a replica of the "peace statue" that Korean civic leaders positioned in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, where surviving comfort women have been holding a protest every Wednesday for the last 21 years.

"Comfort women" is the euphemistic term for what most historians estimate were

up to 200,000 girls and women -- mostly Koreans, but also Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipina, Dutch (from the then-Dutch colony of Indonesia), and others -- who were rounded up and forced into brothels for the sexual gratification of Japanese soldiers.

They repeatedly endured torture and rape, prompting the Japanese government to issue a formal apology in 1993. Nevertheless, some Japanese politicians and ultranationalists continue to downplay or deny the abuse.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, expressed sympathy for comfort women, as well as a desire not to see the issue politicized.

Korean American Forum of California President Joachim Youn said his organization, acting on behalf of Goseong and Gimpo, decided to raise funds to bring the peace statue to Glendale to "restore due dignity and justice for the victims of sexual slavery" and to "educate the American public so as to prevent future violations of human rights."

Emboldened by developments in Glendale, he plans to try to bring the memorial to other cities as well.

"We're not going to stop in Glendale," he said. "This is not the last one."

When asked which cities he wanted the peace statue to go, he responded, "Anywhere that agrees to it."