A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed class action claims against a Japanese newspaper accused of defaming World War II comfort women by calling them “voluntary prostitutes.”

U.S. District Judge William Alsup found one of Japan’s largest media companies, Sankei Shimbum, lacks personal jurisdiction to be sued in California for allegedly defamatory articles printed in its Tokyo-based newspaper.

Company lawyers in Bangkok are a team of American and Thai lawyers dedicated to helping businesses succeed in Thailand.

Hee Nam You and Kyng Soon Kim, two elderly Korean women who say they were kidnapped and made to serve as comfort women during the war, sued 19 defendants including the Japanese government and its prime minister in July.

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