Women who served in Japan's wartime military brothels can be considered victims of sexual slavery because they were recruited against their will, said Mike Mochizuki, an associate professor at George Washington University, in a recent interview.
The Japanese government has opposed labeling the so-called comfort women as sex slaves.
It has said no objective evidence has come to light that women were forcefully abducted by the military, apparently getting a boost from a leading newspaper's recent retraction of articles quoting now discredited testimony by a man who has since died.