Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday condemned remarks by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Seiichi Ota, who said that gang raping women by youngsters is evidence of their virility.
Ota, former head of the Management and Coordination Agency, reportedly told a seminar in Kagoshima Prefecture on Thursday that young men are becoming weak and lack the courage to propose marriage.
"Those who gang rape are better off because they have virility. They are closer to normal," Ota was quoted as saying in media reports on the seminar, which dealt with the nation's declining birthrate.