CAMP DAVID, Md. - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized Friday for the Japanese military's actions in forcing "comfort women" to work in military brothels during World War II.

"I, as prime minister of Japan, express my apologies, and also express my apologies for the fact that they were placed in that sort of circumstance," Mr. Abe said during a news conference with President Bush.

The court said the Chinese plaintiffs had lost their rights to seek individual legal claims against the Japanese government and companies because of a 1972 joint statement in which Beijing renounced war reparations from Japan, a decision supporting the government's position that postwar agreements cleared Japan of responsibility for future individual claims.

But in a striking rebuke to nationalist politicians such as Mr. Abe who have tried to play down Japan's wartime crimes, the court acknowledged that Japanese soldiers had abducted two teenage Chinese girls and forced them to work as sex slaves for months.

Last month, Mr. Abe caused outrage in South Korea and China by saying there was no evidence the military had directly forced women into sex slavery, a position that was endorsed by the Cabinet as the government's official position on March 16.

In his first visit to the U.S. as prime minister, Mr. Abe - who fought for years to have references to wartime sex slavery excised from the nation's government-endorsed school textbooks - said he had sought to clarify his remarks in his meetings with members of Congress on Thursday, and again with Mr. Bush on Friday.

At the same time, Mr. Abe said that "human rights were violated in many parts of the world" in the past century. "So we have to make the 21st century a wonderful century in which no human rights are violated," he said. He said he and his country would make "a significant contribution to this end."

Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., a sponsor of a nonbinding House resolution calling for Japan to formally apologize for its role in the sexual enslavement of thousands of Asian women, said he was heartened by Mr. Abe's apology.

"The logical extension of Mr. Abe's remarks is now for the government of Japan to endorse the prime minister's personal sentiments in a formal, official and unambiguous fashion," Mr. Honda said in a statement.

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