Families of Chinese women have filed a lawsuit in China, seeking an apology and compensation from Japan for acts by the Imperial Japanese military during World War Two.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs says the families of 18 deceased women filed the lawsuit this month with a high court in the inland Chinese province of Shanxi.
They are seeking an apology and compensation of 2 million yuan, or about 276,000 dollars, per woman from the Japanese government.
They claim the women, referred to as comfort women, were subjected to sexual assault by Japanese military personnel during the war.
The women and their families had filed similar lawsuits in Japan since the 1990s, but lost all cases.
Chinese media say it is the first time such a lawsuit has been filed in China.
The lawyer said their action was prompted by a South Korean court ruling in 2021 that ordered the Japanese government to provide compensation.
The focus now is on whether the Chinese court will accept the petition. The lawyer says the decision is expected to take about a month.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing says it is working to understand the situation, and that it will not comment at this point.