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NHK sex slave row threatens interview
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The embattled head of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK insisted yesterday it would remain impartial, after his controversial remarks about wartime sex slavery reportedly jeopardized an interview with US ambassador Caroline Kennedy.
Katsuto Momii has been under fire after saying last month that the Japanese Imperial Army’s system of forcing women into military brothels during World War II was “common in any country at war.”
The issue is a particularly sensitive one for China and South Korea, which both suffered from Japan’s brutal invasion.
Up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forced into brothels catering to the Japanese military in territories occupied by Japan during WWII.
“The most important thing is that all NHK staff strictly adhere to the principles of freedom of expression, political neutrality and fairness,” Momii told lawmakers considering NHK’s annual budget.
“That I offered personal views at my inaugural press conference was inappropriate, and I will be more cautious.”
Momii has apologized for his statement. But he has refused to quit or retract his remarks.
A Japanese journalists’ association and rights groups, and thousands of viewers, have demanded Momii’s resignation.
Reports this week said the controversy had made the US embassy wary of granting the broadcaster an interview with its ambassador, the only living child of John F. Kennedy.
The storm swirling around NHK was heightened when a senior manager this month denied any massacre in Nanjing during the 1930s, despite well-documented historical accounts of an orgy of murder and rape by Japanese troops rampaging through the Chinese city.
Yesterday, Kenichiro Hamada, head of the committee that dictates NHK’s management policy, told lawmakers the comments did not violate rules.
But he said the oversight body has agreed that staff should “abstain” from expressing political opinions in future.
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