A resolution pending in the U.S. Congress that seeks an apology from Japan for its sexual exploitation of foreign women during the war will probably be put to a vote in May, its author said Thursday.

Rep. Michael Honda, a California Democrat of Japanese descent, told reporters in the Capitol, "I would like to wait until after (Japan's) prime minister comes (to Washington) . . . to respect him and to offer him the opportunity to state his case to us."

He said the Foreign Affairs Committee, to which the draft resolution was introduced, will mark up and vote on it "sometime in May."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to visit Washington around April 26.

If the resolution clears the panel, it will be put to the full House for final approval.

Honda and some powerful Republicans submitted the resolution Jan. 31, urging Abe to offer an official apology to the "comfort women," as the sex slaves were euphemistically referred to by Japan.

Tokyo has argued against the passage of the resolution, with Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Ryozo Kato saying Japan has already done all the resolution calls for and warning its passage would hurt otherwise sound Japan-U.S. ties.

But the issue re-entered the spotlight last month when Abe cast doubt on if the Japanese military had coerced non-Japanese women into frontline brothels to service Japanese soldiers. He later reiterated he would stand by Tokyo's 1993 apology.