Hong Kong's government said Thursday there are no plans to remove a pair of statues depicting the Japanese wartime sex slaves known as the "comfort women" standing in front of the Japanese Consulate in the Chinese territory.

Activist Tsang Kin-shing said the bronze statues were a reminder to Japan of its culpability in forcing females recruited or captured from Japan, the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere to work in front-line brothels.

Reached by phone Thursday, a government spokesman said Hong Kong's police have said the statues would not be removed. Tsang, a former member of Hong Kong's legislative assembly, said he wants them to remain in place for the rest of the year.