The Tokyo District Court said Thursday it had no choice in rejecting a lawsuit filed by wartime sex slaves, but it issued strong words to the government to settle the issue.

Presiding Judge Takaomi Takizawa rejected the suit filed by seven Chinese women and the families of three deceased women who were repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers during World War II. He backed the government's argument that there was no law at the time requiring it to pay compensation and that the plaintiffs' right to claim damages under the Civil Code expired 20 years after the rapes occurred.

But Takizawa also recognized all the allegations made by the plaintiffs and urged the government to settle the issue in real terms, saying it is "fully capable of reaching a legislative or administrative settlement."

"The actions of the Japanese soldiers were abnormal, contemptible and barbaric, even if they were carried out in wartime," Takizawa said. "The court cannot but recognize that the state was an aggressor in that it failed to maintain discipline among the military."

But he added that he had "no choice but to deny judicial relief through the application of (existing) laws."

He said the experiences of the plaintiffs will remain an emotional scar that will never disappear.

"When looking at how this issue can be resolved in the future, it is desirable that the victims receive compensation through nonjudicial means," the judge added.

During the trial, the court suggested that the two sides settle out of court, which the plaintiffs accepted in order to provide relief for the aging victims. The government, however, rejected the recommendation.

It was the first time a court has urged an out-of-court settlement in such a lawsuit.

After the ruling, the plaintiffs said they plan to appeal but lauded the court's call for legal or administrative redress measures and urged the government to tackle the problem.

The plaintiffs, from Shanxi Province, northeastern China, sought damages of 20 million yen each, accusing the Japanese government of failure to take legal or administrative steps to give them compensation or other forms of redress.

According to the suit, the 10 women were raped, mostly between 1940 and 1944 when they were in their early teens to mid-20s, by soldiers at their homes and bases of the Imperial Japanese Army, where they were brought by force.

The women suffered severe physical and mental shock, including the loss of ability to have children and posttraumatic stress disorders, for more than half a century, the suit said.

The plaintiffs, then including nine survivors, filed the damages suit in October 1998, based on international laws and Chinese and Japanese civil laws.

One of the plaintiffs, 76-year-old Zhao Runmei told a news conference she will continue the legal battle until redress is recognized.

Liu Wucheng, holding a photograph of his deceased wife Yang Shizhen, speculated that the Japanese government planned to do nothing in the belief that the facts would be forgotten once those involved were all dead.

"But for us, these things are not matters of the past," he said.

Ten cases have been filed nationwide over wartime sex slavery, although the women in this case are not classified as "comfort women," a euphemism for those forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during the war.

Up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, which was then under Japanese colonial rule, were forced into wartime brothels.

More than 70 damages suits have been filed against the government and companies in connection with Japan's wartime acts, including sex slavery and forced labor. Of those, four cases have been settled amicably with companies but none with the government.