Tokyo Shrugs Off U.S. Sex Resolution

Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., gives a thumbs-up and says thank you to his colleagues after legislation was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2007, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility for its Imperial Armed Forces coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as "comfort women", during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II. Honda is the principal sponsor of the bill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

TOKYO -- Japan's relations with the United States are "unshakable" despite a U.S. congressional resolution urging a further apology from Tokyo over wartime sex slaves, the Japanese government spokesman said Wednesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki also suggested there would be no further apology from Tokyo on the wartime brothels, despite the passage of the resolution by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"The alliance between the U.S. and Japan is irreplaceable. There is no change at all to the fact that Japan-U.S. relations will continue to be unshakable," Shiozaki said.

The committee approved the nonbinding resolution by a 39-2 vote on Tuesday. It urges Japan to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the suffering of "comfort women" during the 1930s and 1940s.

The endorsement allows the measure to be considered by the full House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe refused to comment on the passage of the resolution, saying it was a matter for the U.S. Congress.

"I have already explained my thinking when I visited the U.S.," Abe told reporters later Tuesday.

Shiozaki said there has been no change in Tokyo's stance.

"The government's position on the comfort women issue is clear from the prime minister's recent visit to the U.S. in April. I have nothing more to add," Shiozaki said, referring to an apology by Abe during his U.S. trip for the sex slaves' suffering.

Historians say hundreds of thousands of women, mainly from Korea, China and the Philippines, were sent to Japanese military brothels in the 1930s and '40s. Many victims say they were forced to provide sexual services against their will to Japanese soldiers.

Abe triggered controversy in March when he said there was no evidence that the women had been coerced into working as prostitutes, and he said Japan would not make a further apology in reaction to the U.S. resolution.

Abe, facing international criticism, later said he stood by an earlier Japanese government apology, saying he sympathizes with the victims' plight and regrets the "situation they found themselves in."