TOKYO (Reuters) - Ichiro Koyama, recalling words from a fellow Japanese soldier who died two years ago, says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should offer a more sincere apology to women who served in brothels during World War Two.

Abe has caused international outrage by denying that the women, many of them Korean, were forced into the brothels to provide sex for soldiers, but Koyama said the medic in his unit had told him that the women were sent against their will.

"He told me, 'Koyama, they should all be pitied. They were all tricked into going there,'" he told a news conference sponsored by a non-governmental organization.

"They had gone thinking they would be waitresses or cooks at places for soldiers to rest, but instead they were forced to be partners for sex," he said, adding that the women had no means of escaping.

On Thursday, Abe will start a two-day visit to the United States, where the fate of the wartime sex slaves has gained prominence over the past few weeks since Congressman Michael Honda introduced a resolution asking Japan to apologize.

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