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The U.S. House on Monday for the first time approved a resolution condemning Japan's sexual enslavement of women during the past century, no small victory for tens of thousands of victims who battled for decades to have Japan admit its wrongdoing.

Resolution 121, initiated by Japanese-American legislator Michael Honda in January, passed the House unanimously about a month after it was endorsed by the Foreign Affairs Committee. It demands that Japan "formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for coercing young women into sexual slavery.

Known as "comfort women," young girls were kidnapped or lured into frontline brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. A majority of the victims, estimated by historians at at least 200,000, are Koreans whose country was under Japanese colonial rule at the time. They accuse Tokyo of evading responsibility for its atrocities by refusing to admit guilt or apologize at the government level.

Lee Yong-soo, a comfort woman victim, called Monday's results a victory for American civil society.

"This resolution will bring about the healing process of old scars in Asia... Every day, I remember the victims that are not with us any longer," Lee said.

"It has been shown that justice is still alive," said Hong Il-song, whose coalition was one of the driving forces in the campaign to muster congressional support for Resolution 121.

Japan needs to sincerely apologize for its past wrongs in order to fairly claim leadership commensurate with its economic power in Asia, he said, "and this has given them the opportunity to do so."

Tokyo argues that it has apologized, referring to a 1993 statement by then-government spokesman Yohei Kono. He said the Japanese military was "directly or indirectly" involved in running the brothels. He and various prime ministers have expressed apologies, but the victims and advocates point to wording that leaves unclear whether it is the individual or the government that is apologizing.

The House resolution urges the prime minister to resolve the recurring questions about Tokyo's sincerity by making an unequivocal apology.

Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said absence of such an apology is "disturbing" to all who value Washington-Tokyo relations.

"No nation can disregard its own past," he said in a debate preceding adoption of the resolution. "Withholding that acknowledgement only compounds the cruelty."

The committee's ranking member, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said while the U.S. is grateful for the alliance with Japan, it must also recognize the unresolved historic issues.

"For the surviving comfort women, these issues are not historical. They are profoundly personal," she said.

Honda said encouraging Japan to officially apologize "in my mind, my heart, and the minds and hearts of all those concerned about protecting human rights, is the right thing to do."

This Saturday is the birthday of former Rep. Lane Evans, who brought this issue to the attention of the previous Congress. His efforts led to the first-ever passage of a comfort women resolution in September last year by the House International Relations Committee, now the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Saturday is also the 14th anniversary of Kono statement.

The House action is a heavy blow to the current Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose party on Sunday suffered a humiliating defeat in parliamentary elections.

The comfort resolution vote was intentionally scheduled after the weekend so as not to hurt the Abe administration before the elections.

Korean-American civic groups throughout the U.S. had lobbied to get the resolution through the Congress, obtaining bipartisan legislators' signatures of support in face-to-face visits over the past several months. Their efforts were met by Japan's counter-lobbying, including a blunt letter by its ambassador in Washington warning of "lasting and harmful effects" on the U.S.-Japan alliance should the resolution pass the House committee.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, another Japanese-American legislator, last month strongly opposed passage of the resolution, saying "diplomatic protocol among friendly nations and allies calls for consideration and sensitive handling" of the matter.

"Is this how we Americans should conduct ourselves with the Japanese, our friends and allies?" he said.

Civic group leaders, although they would like the Senate to take up the resolution as well, have said that they are aware of such opposition and would have to take it into consideration in their future campaign.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on Resolution 508, submitted by Rep. Jim Saxton, to reaffirm that Japan is "one of the most reliable security partners" of the U.S. and to thank Tokyo for "enhancing stability in the Asia-Pacific region."

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Yonhap News)