A group of 187 internationally renowned history scholars urged Japan Tuesday to acknowledge and apologize for its wartime sex slavery, saying "denying or trivializing" it is "unacceptable."

The joint appeal came a week after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe failed to offer a clear apology for the sexual slavery or other wartime atrocities when he delivered an unprecedented address at a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

It is unusual for such a large number of international historians to take collective action.

Wednesday's statement, which follows a similar statement issued in February by some 20 members of the American Historical Association, shows how concerned international historians are about Japan's attempts to whitewash its wartime actions.

Yonhap News Agency obtained a copy of the statement.

The scholars included Pulitzer Prize winner Herbert Bix of Binghamton University; William Paterson University history professor Theodore F. Cook; Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor John Dower; Harvard University professor Ezra Vogel and University of Chicago professor Bruce Cummings.

The statement has been delivered to Abe, according to University of Connecticut professor Alexis Dudden.

"There is no easy path to a 'correct history.' Much of the archives of the Japanese imperial military was destroyed. The actions of local procurers who provided women to the military may never have been recorded," the statement said.

"But historians have unearthed numerous documents demonstrating the military's involvement in the transfer of women and oversight of brothels. Important evidence also comes from the testimony of victims," it said. "The aggregate record they offer is compelling and supported by official documents."

Though the suffering of victims should not be used for nationalist ends, "denying or trivializing what happened to them is equally unacceptable," it said.

Historians estimate more than 200,000 women, mainly from Korea which was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

But Japan has long attempted to water down the atrocity.

The sexual slavery issue has been the biggest thorn in frayed relations between Japan and South Korea, with Seoul demanding Tokyo take steps to address the grievances of the now elderly Korean victims and Japan refusing to do so.

"Among the many instances of wartime sexual violence and military prostitution in the 20th century, the 'comfort women' system was distinguished by its large scale and systematic management under the military, and by its exploitation of young, poor, and vulnerable women in areas colonized or occupied by Japan," the statement said.

It said the historians disagree over the precise number of victims, but "ultimately, whether the numbers are judged to have been in the tens of thousands or the hundreds of thousands will not alter the fact of the exploitation carried out throughout the Japanese empire and the war zones."

Even though historians dispute how directly the Japanese military was involved and whether women were coerced into sexual slavery, the statement said the "evidence makes clear that large numbers of women were held against their will and subjected to horrific brutality."

It also said that employing legalistic arguments focused on particular terms or isolated documents to challenge the victims' testimony "both misses the fundamental issue of their brutalization and ignores the larger context of the inhumane system that exploited them."

"This year presents an opportunity for the government of Japan to show leadership by addressing Japan's history of colonial rule and wartime aggression in both words and action," the statement said.

Noting that Abe spoke of the universal value of human rights, the importance of human security, and the suffering that Japan caused other countries, the statement said, "We applaud these sentiments and urge Prime Minister to act boldly on all of them.

"We waited to hear what Prime Minister Abe would say during his speeches in the United States last week, and unfortunately his one brief aside comment about this issue further brushed away Japanese state responsibility for this awful history," professor Dudden, who led the statement, told Yonhap.

"In short, this statement is a direct appeal to the Japanese government to address this history squarely, accept responsibility for it ... and to desist from further distortions and politicization," she said.

Dudden also said that she was thrilled to see more historians sign the statement than expected.

"They are not only in the U.S, but also all over the world including Europe and Australia. So this statement is actually on a global scale," she said. (Yonhap)