A State Department spokeswoman on Thursday branded remarks by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto defending Japan's wartime system of sexual servitude as "outrageous" in the first outright criticism of the comments by a U.S. government official.
Commenting on Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's contention that the system was considered necessary before and during World War II, Jen Psaki told a press briefing, "We have seen of course those comments. Mayor Hashimoto's comments were outrageous and offensive.
"As the United States has stated previously, what happened in that era to these women who were trafficked for sexual purposes is deplorable and clearly a grave human rights violation of enormous proportions," Psaki said.