A city council in the U.S. state of California has approved a bronze statue honoring Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
The Glendale city council on Tuesday authorized the statue, the Los Angeles Times reported, making the town the first on the West Coast to install such a memorial on public land.
It will be unveiled in a park on July 30, which the city council designated as "Comfort Women Day" after the Japanese euphemism for the sex slaves.
Korean victims will be invited to the ceremony.
The statue was cast in Korea at a cost of US$30,000 covered by a Korean-American group. It is a replica of a statue that sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Around 100 Japanese activists who claim the women willingly worked as prostitutes packed the council chambers, saying a U.S. city should not meddle in Japanese and Korean affairs, the U.S. daily reported.
Even Japanese politicians and historians have denounced such claims.
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