Abe vows ‘no change’ to sex-slave apology
Print Edition
JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday that his government would not revise a landmark 1993 “comfort women” apology, and said he was “deeply pained” by the suffering of women forced into a system of wartime brothels.
Abe has faced criticism for his government’s plan to review what is known as the Kono statement, which acknowledged official complicity in the coercion of military sex slaves, a historical legacy that draws raw resentment in China and South Korea.
Respected historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea but also from China, Indonesia and the Philippines, were forced to serve Japanese soldiers.
Yesterday, Abe said that his cabinet “upholds the position on the recognition of history outlined by the previous administrations in its entirety” including the Kono statement.’’
“With regard to the comfort women issue, I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors,” he told a parliamentary committee, according to a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs.
“The Kono statement addresses this issue ... As my Chief Cabinet Secretary (Yoshihide) Suga stated in press conferences, the Abe cabinet has no intention to review it.”
Suga said last Monday that there was no plan to revise the statement, adding that Tokyo’s review was aimed at verifying historical facts, and to determine if South Korea was involved in drafting its text.
Neither Suga’s comments, nor the latest remarks from Abe, clarified what would happen if Tokyo’s review was at odds with the official apology.
In 1993, after hearing testimony from 16 South Korean women, Japan offered “sincere apologies and remorse” to the women and vowed to face the historical facts squarely.
But repeated wavering on the issue among senior right-wing politicians has contributed to a feeling in South Korea that Japan is in denial and is not sufficiently remorseful.
Abe also said yesterday that his government adhered to the positions stated by past governments on history, including the 1995 apology for suffering caused by the war given by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama.
On Thursday, South Korea signalled that it would not go ahead with a mooted leaders’ summit with Japan, after talks between top diplomats failed to produce a breakthrough on their badly strained ties.
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