Mayor of Osaka criticized over cutting SF ties

Women's rights activists on Wednesday criticized the mayor of the Japanese city of Osaka for unilaterally severing the sister-city relationship with San Francisco in protest at a "comfort women" memorial in the city.

Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura, in a letter dated Oct 2 to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, announced his decision to withdraw the city from the 61-year-old agreement.

Yoshimura had written several letters to the late San Francisco mayor Ed Lee and current mayor Breed, threatening to terminate the relationship if the city did not remove the memorial from public land.