TOKYO(Reuters) - Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, renowned for his many public gaffes, faced demands for an apology Tuesday after implying that only women who bear children should be eligible for pen-sions. "I think it is really strange to be told to use tax money to take care of women who haven't even had one child," Mori told a discussion group. "The real purpose of a welfare system is to look after women who have a lot of children, as a means of thanking them," the Kyodo news agency quoted Mori as saying last week during a politicians' panel discus-sion in front of an audience.

　　Opposition Socialist lawmakers submitted a letter to Mori's office de-manding an apology Tuesday. "This is equivalent to saying that women who do not or cannot bear children are of no use to society," Kyodo quoted lawmaker Keiko Yamauchi as saying. Mori's latest slip-up comes as Japan tries to raise its sagging birthrate; the rapid aging of the population is expected to cause difficulty in covering pension obligations.