Indonesie Forum

Japan will form a team to review the lead-up to a 1993 statement which acknowledged its wartime use of sex slaves, its top spokesman says. Some 200,000 women in territories occupied by Japan during World War Two are estimated to have been forced to become sex slaves for troops.

A former leader has said any move to review the apology, known as the Kono statement, would be "absurd".

Some 200,000 women in territories occupied by Japan during World War Two are estimated to have been forced to become sex slaves for troops.

Many of the women came from China and South Korea, but also from the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

The Kono statement - issued by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993 - acknowledged that women had been coerced, with the Japanese military involved in the establishment and management of the process.

It is unclear where this review of the material will lead. Any move to revise the statement is likely to be met by anger from Japan's neighbours.