Ex-Japanese leaders again admit to Tokyo's WW2 sex slavery

Former Japanese political leaders who issued statements carrying Tokyo's apologies over its past wartime atrocities asserted on Tuesday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should not water down their apologetic remarks.

Abe is set to issue his own statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War Two in August.

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, the author of the Kono Statement in 1993, said that many women from Korea and other nations were forcibly recruited as "comfort women" for Japanese troops during World War Two.

In addition, former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who extended Japan's landmark 1995 apology marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, said that Abe should not make an empty apology.

He added that Abe should "honestly spell out" the country's past wartime actions.