Japan’s Sankei Shimbun says local government councils are continuing to adopt statements urging the Japanese central government to be committed in apologizing to and compensating comfort women.

The movement, started by the councils, began in Hyogo Prefecture in March 2008. Twenty-five such statements have been adopted as of June related to the issue of comfort women.

Sankei added that the statements have been more frequently sought since the Democratic Party took power last year.

In 1993, Yohei Kono, the chief cabinet secretary of the Japanese government, admitted to and apologized for the existence of forced sex slavery. Japanese civic groups have been steadily implementing campaigns since that year urging local government councils to call for a national apology and compensation.

An estimated 200-thousand young women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during the years preceding and during World War II.