A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the removal of certain passages from a recent book about so-called “comfort women” on the grounds that it may damage the dignity of surviving victims who when young were forced into service at Japanese military brothels.

The ruling came in response to a defamation lawsuit filed by nine former comfort women, a euphemism for those forced to work as prostitutes in Japan’s wartime military brothels. The target of the suit was the book’s author, Park Yu-ha, a professor at Seoul’s Sejong University.

Published in South Korea in 2013, the book says that both Japanese and Korean contractors were directly responsible for restricting the women’s freedom, while underscoring the Imperial Japanese military’s involvement in the coercive recruitment of comfort women.

In all, the Seoul Eastern District Court ordered the removal of 34 passages. They include one stating that the suffering of Korean comfort women was equivalent to that of Japanese prostitutes.

Another part argues that, at least officially, it was not the former Japanese military that kidnapped or forcibly took those women to military brothels on Korean soil.

In the ruling, the court said comfort women were essentially equal to sex slaves as they were recruited by Japan, regardless of their will, and forced to serve numerous soldiers each day.

Regardless of freedom of expression, the passages should be deleted to prevent irreversible damage to the dignity of former comfort women, the court said.

Park, the author, said she is disappointed at the ruling, which she said is based only on the claims of the plaintiffs. She plans to file a formal objection to the ruling.