UN panel blasts Japan for sex slave denial

Human Rights Committee expresses surprise at whitewash of atrocities

A United Nations panel has sharply criticized Japan for its failure to acknowledge its wartime atrocities and for its attempts to whitewash the plight of "comfort women", who were forced into sexual slavery.

The UN Human Rights Committee said on Wednesday that since the 1990s, numerous reports and recommendations from UN bodies have criticized Japan for not accepting responsibility for its war crimes, Indo Asian News Service said on Thursday.