World IN BRIEF : JAPAN : Compensation Urged for WWII Sex Slaves

In the first major U.N. condemnation of Japan for World War II atrocities, a key United Nations investigator called on the Japanese government to pay damages and apologize to former sex slaves. Japan showed “extraordinary inhumanity” in forcing 200,000 women from conquered territory to work in the infamous “comfort stations” near its military bases, said Radhika Coomaraswamy, a U.N. special investigator into violence against women. The Japanese government rejected the report’s demands and reiterated its claim that it bears no legal responsibility for the abuses.