The comments and pledge came as officials from the two countries met here recently on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crimes

Mary's Square Annex in the city on the US West Coast, Lee witnessed the unveiling of a memorial called the "Comfort Women" Column of Strength on FridayMike Honda, a former member of the US House of Representatives, who as the chief sponsor of a July 2007 House resolution urged Japan to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the sexual exploitation of "comfort women," joined elected officials at the event to greet Lee and denounce those who deny history

At the unveiling ceremony, Eric Mar, a former board member who initiated the process, choked back tears when he said that he has a 17-year-old daughter and that Lee's courage to stand up against sexual violence and historical crimes is an inspiration for people fighting for justice[Photo/Xinhua]SAN FRANCISCO - "I hate the crime, not the people," an emotional Yong-Soo Lee, a Korean woman who survived the sexual slavery by the Imperial Army of Japan during World War II, told a packed audience at a corner of a public squareIn a statement released on the occasion, the CWJC said that "through our memorial, we remember all our grandmothers who are alive, and all those who have passed on but are still with us in both spirit and memory

"The unveiling of the "comfort women" memorial, the first in a major city in the United States, which also includes a sculpture of three girls -- Korean, Chinese and Filipino -- took place on the second anniversary of a resolution passed by San Francisco city and the county's legislative Board of SupervisorsBesides calling for putting up the memorial, the resolution aimed at raising public awareness against sex trafficking and all forms of sexual violence

Comfort Women Justice Coalition, a local grassroots advocacy group devoted to bring justice for the victims of Japanese military sexual slavery during the World War II, unveiled a monument dedicated to the "comfort women" in San Francisco on Friday

" However, in the instance of "comfort women," the criminals "went away and got free, there was no justice for the comfort womenThe US was believed to be fully behind the scenes when the Philippines, under President Benigno Aquino III, filed the arbitration suit in 2013 against China in a tribunal in The Hague, a case in which China had refused to participate

By comparing these figures, Pew seems to suggest that China and the US are engaging in a popularity contest in the PhilippinesA zero-sum mentality about China-US relations is reflected not only in the thinking of some US politicians, but also in a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center

According to the survey, 78 percent in the Philippines have a positive view of the US as of this spring, down from 92 percent who expressed positive sentiments in 2015The US government, lawmakers and pundits have generally expressed negative views of Duterte since he took office last June