Osaka Mayor to apologise for 'wartime sex slaves' comments

A Japanese politician, who is already under fire over comments about wartime sex slaves, has apologised for suggesting US soldiers in Okinawa visit brothels.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, 43, had claimed American servicemen should go to legal sex businesses in the southern prefecture to vent their violent frustrations and prevent sex assaults against local women, reports Sky News.

The remark sparked disgust in the US and outrage in Okinawa and Hashimoto later said he would retract the comment at a press conference on Monday.

He said the word 'sex businesses' was inappropriate, adding that he must apologise to the US military and American people and retract his comment. But he said he had no intention of retracting his other controversial comment - that the use of wartime sex slaves was necessary to provide "comfort" for soldiers risking their lives in battle.

It is believed up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to become prostitutes for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.

Most historians agree Asian women were pressed into sexual slavery for the Japanese imperial army.

Hashimoto has insisted Japan's soldiers were not unique in brutalising women, and he said his original remarks were misinterpreted.

Hashimoto is co-head of the newly formed Japan Restoration Party with former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who is a strident nationalist.