San Francisco will soon have the first memorial in a major US city to "comfort women", who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II.

The San Francisco Arts Commission gave final approval this week to a planned memorial in the city's Chinatown. The memorial, which depicts a trio of women with linked hands as a fourth woman looks on, is set to be installed in September, according to the Associated Press.

The San Francisco-based Comfort Women Justice Coalition said on its website that it is seeking to raise about $350,000 to build and maintain the memorial.