Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto angered and shocked the public when he said that forced sex slaves, also known as "comfort women," were necessary for Japanese soldiers to relieve stress.
But co-leader Shingo Nishimura, with whom Toru has worked for the Japan Restoration Party movement, made matters worse on Friday, when the lawmaker blamed South Koreans for involvement in the sex trade.
He was subsequently forced by party affiliates to resign from his post.
Members of the conservative, nationalist Japan Restoration Party begged Nishimura to take back his accusation that Koreans were prostitutes in Japan after he spoke at a Party meeting.
During his speech, Nishimura also defended compatriot Hashimoto's statement, saying that 'comfort women' had been incorrectly translated to 'sex slaves,' according to USA Today.
"'Comfort women' is erroneously translated as 'sex slaves,' which might encourage anti-Japanese riots and conspiracies," he said. "We better fight back by telling them that the words 'comfort women' and 'sex slaves' are completely different and that there are numerous South Korean prostitutes roaming around Japan."
He then put the final nail in the controversial commentary coffin, joking that he might visit his hometown of Osaka, venture into red-light districts and yell, "Hey, you South Korean comfort women!"
He concluded by saying that the party "fight" to stand in solidarity with Hashimoto.
Most attendees appeared stunned by Nishimura's comment, including party member Kenta Matsunami who suggested the leader retract his statement.
"Please take back what you just said," he asked sternly. "Take back your comment. You should retract the word 'South Koreans.'"
Nishimura then returned to the podium and acknowledged the potentially detrimental nature of his statement, saying that his remarks were inappropriate, but only because there had never been facts collected by survey to back them up.
For other party members, retraction was not enough-Nishimura officially resigned from the party after the meeting.
But Secretary General Ichiro Matsui wanted to make it known that the party had discharged him.
"I'm completely baffled by the comment," Matsui said. "I don't think he should stay with our group anymore."
