TOKYO -- A group of Japanese lawyers who have been helping "comfort women" on their damages suits handed in a petition on Wednesday to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, calling on the government to thoroughly address the wartime sex slavery issue and restore the victims' reputation and dignities.

The action followed the passage of a resolution on Tuesday by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, which called on Japan to acknowledge formally and accept responsibility for sexually enslaving women during World War II.

In the petition, lawyers involved in nine lawsuits filed by victims from China, the Philippines and South Korea urged the Japanese government to take the resolution seriously and to strictly abide by the Kono Statement, which officially acknowledged and apologized over the fact that Japan forced women from other Asian countries into sexual servitude for its soldiers during the war.

The government should consult the victims and related people to make efforts for full settlement of the "comfort women" issue, the petition read.

The U.S. resolution was also welcomed by some Japanese civil groups. At a news conference, the Japan Action Network for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery, a network of some 20 civic groups as well as individual members, urged the government to " officially apologize" to each victim of the wartime sex slavery history.

The "comfort women" system, which was set up during wartime as a "national policy" by the state, caused severe suffering to women in countries invaded by Japan, the Network said in a statement, adding that the U.S. resolution is one that representing conscience of the international public opinion.

The unbinding resolution also urges the Japanese Prime Minister to make a public apology and calls on the Japanese government to refute any claims that the episode never happened.

The measure is able to proceed to a full House vote.

An estimated 200,000 women were forced to serve as sex slaves, known as "comfort women", for Japanese forces during World War II, and most of them came from countries invaded by Japan at that time.