The Japanese pornography industry issued an apology on Thursday and vowed to make changes following the arrest of the managers of a modeling agency who forced a young woman into doing X-rated movies.

Japan Intellectual Property Association, representing the adult film industry, among others, issued a statement saying that it “deeply regrets that we had failed to take the initiative (to deal with the problem before). We are very sorry.”

The apology comes after the arrest on June 12 of three talent scouts of a Tokyo-based agency for forcing a model to shoot pornographic films against her will.

In 2013, the talent agency began demanding the victim, aged around 20, to work for a porn film producer under the threat that if she refused she would have to pay a heavy fine, according to Japanese media.

Tokyo-based Human Rights Now in March denounced the rise in cases where women have been forced to appear in porn videos by agencies that offered them work as models or television actresses.

The non-profit provided assistance to 81 such women in 2015, 31 in 2014 and two young women between 2012 and 2013 in similar situations. EFE

Tokyo, Jun 23 (EFE).