Japan's Prime Minister Abe says 'heart aches' over WW II sex slaves

Yong Soo Lee, 88 of Korea, a survivor of being an imperial sex slave of Japan protests outside the Kennedy School at Harvard, with a group asking Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize for the abuse of woman during WWII, during Abe's visit at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States April 27, 2015. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday his heart ached for women who were forced into prostitution by the nation's military during World War Two, and he stood by previous Japanese leaders' apologies for the country's wartime history.

"My heart aches when I think about the people who were victimized by human trafficking and who were subject to immeasurable pain and suffering, beyond description. On this score my feeling is no different from my predecessor prime ministers," he told students at Harvard's John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.