RUSSELS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, on Friday, talking on the subject of Tokyo's assertion that the government found no evidence of the Japanese military forcing women to work in military brothels during World War II was an "unpleasant surprise," and demanded an explanation from the Japanese side on the issue.

    Speaking to Japan's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Kyoji Komachi, by phone on Friday evening, Verhagen said it would be "a very unpleasant surprise if the report is true," and sought an explanation for the reported government statement, according to Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Herman van Gelderen.

    The Japanese Cabinet on Friday approved a position paper, which said there is no direct evidence that Japan's military authorities or government officials were involved in forcing women into sex slavery during World War II.

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on March 1 that "there is no evidence to prove there was coercion" exercised over "comfort women", forced into prostitution in military brothels during World War II. His remarks immediately drew international criticism.

    On March 5, Abe reiterated that Japan would abide by the Kono statement. And six days later, he made an unfeigned apology to "comfort women" in an appearance on national television.

    An estimated 200,000 women worked in brothels serving Japanese forces during World War II. Most of the women came from countries invaded by Japan at the time.

    In 1993, the then Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued the so-called Kono statement, officially acknowledging and apologizing for the fact that Japan forced women from other Asian countries to be sex slaves for its troops in the 1930s and 1940s.