But the angry and emotional fallout from the proposed monument to the so-called comfort women of World War II, has led to tyres being slashed, insults thrown and intimidating and humiliating posts left on websites.

At the height of the escalating drama, the local council was accused of failing to maintain harmonious community relations by not dealing with the issue and it was threatened with a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The inner-west suburb of Strathfield is known more for its sprawling heritage homes rather than as the centre of  historical conflicts.

Trouble erupted in the inner-west enclave over a proposal to erect a memorial to commemorate the comfort women of the World War II, many from South Korea, who were forced to work in brothels for the Japanese troops.

It comes as the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe marked the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II expressing "profound grief" for the "immeasurable damage and suffering" the nation's military caused and made reference to the comfort women saying  "We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured."

The monument proposed by the Korean Committee of United Austral Korean-Chinese Alliance Against Japanese War Crimes was to stand in the middle of Strathfield - one of the most ethnically diverse municipalities in the state with 48 per cent of residents born overseas most from Republic of South Korea, China and Sri Lanka.

But upon hearing news of the proposal the Japanese Women for Justice and Peace angrily opposed it and organised a petition that gathered more than 16,000 signatures against it. They argued it is a controversial issue - which has never been fully settled - and it could spark hate crimes and bullying of Japanese children.

"Japan is a most peaceful nation," they said.

The issue became a flash-point in the community and international news agencies from Japan, South Korea and China have been reporting on the troubles.

The Australia-Japan Community Network also complained about the proposed memorial statue but Mr Yamaoka said, after being attacked over their opposition, they instructed lawyers to write to Strathfield City Council warning them against approving the statue.

"It has been dangerous for us, vandalism has already happened around us, tyres have been slashed," said the president of the network, Tesshu Yamaoka.

Lawyer Rick Mitry wrote to Strathfield Council advising that there had already been a number of incidents that could be seen as a breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act and if the council approved the statue they would seek an interim injunction to stop it being built.

"There have been brochures, offensive and insulting to the Japanese race, distributed among the Strathfield Municipality," wrote Mr Mitry.

"There has also been the slashing of tyres of opponents to the proposal to construct the Comfort Women statue, and there have been publications posted on the website of the Korean Society of Sydney which are visceral, intimidating and even humiliating to members of the Japanese race, and others who are opponents of the proposal," Mr Mitry said.

After nearly a year of controversy Strathfield Council held an extraordinary meeting last week that was packed with supporters and protesters.

After hearing speakers from both sides councillors voted to take no further action on the proposal because "it does not meet the criteria of Council's Memorial Policy".

A statement from the council said its memorial policy is aimed at building harmony in the community by not supporting requests that are deemed to be offensive to any community groups.

"This proposal in itself has divided the community," it stated.

Mr Philip Shin, a spokesman for the Korean community said members were disappointed with the outcome. He said the community was planning a new strategy and asking the Korean government to give more support in the future.