A resolution demanding Japan's apology for sexual enslavement of women, jointly proposed by 149 Representatives, Tuesday passed the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee with overwhelming support, 39 to 2 in Washington, news reports said.
Michael Honda, D-Calif., of Japanese descent, who has been the driving force behind a resolution, said he expects the full House to pass it as well.
The resolution is expected to be proposed to a House plenary session in the second week of July and is expected to pass smoothly in view of the passage at the committee, Rep. Honda said. He proposed the resolution first in January.
''What they said today in their vote was that, yes, there were victims, there were women who were used as sex slaves, yes, there was a systematic military program that captured, coerced women and girls to be used as sex slaves,'' Kyodo News Service quoted Honda as telling reporters after the passage of the resolution.
The resolution has been proposed and supported by 149 members, more than one third of the total 435 House lawmakers. This is the second time that the resolution on so-called comfort women has been passed following the one passed on Sept. 13 last year.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also expressed support for a "comfort women" resolution that just passed a House committee, significantly raising the chances that it will pass the full House for the first time.
"I look forward to the House of Representatives passing this resolution and sending a strong message that we will not forget the horrors endured by the comfort women," she said in a statement.