A French politician has refused to resign over comments that he enjoyed paying for "young boys" in Thailand.

一位法国政客深陷与泰国“未成年男童”有性经历的评论之中并拒绝因此辞职。

Frederic Mitterrand said all those he paid for sex were close to his own age

Frederic Mitterrand, 62, the culture minister, denied that passages of his book, The Bad Life, described sexual encounters with underage（未成年的） boys.

Interviewed on French TV, he condemned² sex tourism and paedophilia（恋童癖）, saying he had only paid for sex with men his age.

Mr Mitterrand, nephew of late President Francois Mitterrand, faced criticism from left and right in recent weeks.

His book was little-noticed when it was first published in 2005.

However it returned to the headlines after Mr Mitterrand made an impassioned（狂热的） defence of film director Roman Polanski, who was recently arrested in Switzerland on child sex charges.

Mr Mitterrand said the behaviour of the United States, in seeking his extradition³（引渡逃犯）, was callous⁴ and "horrifying⁵".

His comments in support of Polanski led the right-wing National Front to lead the criticism of Mr Mitterrand over events in his past.

France's Socialist⁶ opposition⁷ has also been sharply critical of Mr Mitterrand.

'Not a crime'

Mr Mitterrand appeared on a French TV news programme on Thursday evening visibly angry and far from apologetic（道歉的，认错的）.

"I absolutely condemn¹ sexual tourism [and] I condemn paedophilia in which I have never in any way participated," Mr Mitterrand said.

"All the people who accuse me of that type of thing should be ashamed."

People "should not confuse paedophilia and homosexuality", the culture minister insisted, describing his actions in Thailand as an error - "without a doubt" - but not a crime.

"Each time I was with people who were my age, or who were five years younger - there wasn't the slightest ambiguity⁸（不明确，暧昧） - and who were consenting," he said.

Mr Mitterrand said he retained（保持，保留） the confidence of current President Nicolas Sarkozy and that he had not offered to resign over the controversy⁹.

He had committed what he thought was an "offence against... human dignity", but strongly denied any accusations¹⁰ of illegal sexual activities.

When Mr Mitterrand's book, described by his publishers as a novel based on autobiography¹¹, was written, it received literary praise and did not generate controversy.

When he was appointed to the French government in June 2009 Mr Sarkozy described his new minister as "talented and courageous¹²（勇敢的）".