Osaka City, western Japan, is to cut its sister city ties with San Francisco, following the US city's decision to accept the donation of a statue symbolizing those referred to as comfort women.

Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura revealed his intention to do so in a statement released on Thursday.

Yoshimura called San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee's decision to accept the donation "regrettable," saying he had urged Lee to carefully consider the issue and use his veto power.

He said the 2 cities' relationship of trust is now gone and that his government plans to complete procedures to sever sister city ties by the end of December.

Last week, San Francisco's city council voted unanimously to accept the donation of the statue from a group of Chinese-Americans.

Mayor Lee could have vetoed the council's decision within 10 days of the vote, but he chose to approve it on Wednesday.