The Tokyo Court upheld a lower court ruling on Thursday and rejected a South Korean woman's demand for an apology and 12 million yen in damages from the Japanese government for the suffering she endured as a wartime "comfort woman."

In one of nine civil suits filed by comfort woman, Song Sin Dong, 78, a resident in Miyagi Prefecture, argued that she had been forced to serve as a sex slave for seven years until the end of World War II.

In demanding the apology and compensation, Song claimed that Japan should be held responsible for physical and mental distress she suffered as a sex slave in the light of international law, which prohibits slavery and other crimes against humanity.