US demands apology for wartime sex slavery

A Japanese official responded to a US demand for a formal apology over wartime sex slavery practices by saying that Japan had already made amends.

The US House of Representatives yesterday approved a resolution urging Japan to “formally acknowledge, apologise and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner” for the suffering of so-called “comfort women” during the Second World War.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference the following morning in Tokyo that Japan has already offered an extensive explanation to Washington, adding: “It is regrettable that this resolution was adopted.”

Shiozaki said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has “clearly explained his views” on this matter to the US side during his trip to Washington in April.

“The government has handled the comfort women issue with sincerity,” he said.

Historians say the Imperial Japanese Army forcibly sent hundreds of thousands of women, mainly from Korea, China and the Philippines, to wartime Japanese military brothels to work as prostitutes in the 1930s and 1940s.

Since the government’s acknowledgment in the early 1990s, Japanese leaders, including Abe, have repeatedly apologised.

Shiozaki said Japan has no plans to lodge a protest with Washington over the resolution.

“We have already worked to clearly explain Japan’s view,” he said. “We will continue to do so.”

The resolution’s supporters say Japan has never assumed responsibility for the treatment of the women.

In Washington, Democratic Rep Tom Lantos called “nauseating” what he said were efforts by some in Japan “to distort and deny history and play a game of blame the victim”.

“Inhumane deeds should be fully acknowledged,” said Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The world awaits a full reckoning of history from the Japanese government.”

In Seoul, six former sex slaves and more than a dozen of their supporters staged a rally outside the Japanese Embassy, reiterating their demands for Tokyo’s apology, while welcoming the resolution.

“Peace can be realised when (Japan) sincerely repents for its past and apologises,” said Kil Won-ok, a former sex slave.

But Japanese right-wing politicians claim that the issue has been fabricated or exaggerated. A group of lawmakers and conservatives earlier this month demanded the US Congress retract the resolution.

Abe has triggered anger across Asia in March by saying there was no proof the women were coerced.

Though symbolic, the non-binding resolution has caused unease in Japan and its relations with Washington.

It is believed to add recent woes for Abe, whose ruling party faced a humiliating defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

In 1993, Japan’s government issued a carefully worded official apology but has rejected most compensation claims, saying they were settled by postwar treaties.

A fund created in 1995 by the government but run independently and financed by private donations, has provided a way for Japan to compensate former sex slaves without making it official. Many comfort women have rejected the money.