Politician sorry for US brothel remarks
Source: AFP |
May 26, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A JAPANESE politician who drew fire for calling "comfort women" a wartime necessity has been forced to apologize for suggesting US servicemen in Okinawa visit brothels there to vent their violent frustrations.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto had suggested that US servicemen in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, where relations are frequently tested by violent crimes including rapes and assaults, patronize legal sex businesses there.
As the remark triggered disgust in the United States and outrage in Okinawa, Hashimoto said he would retract it at a press conference scheduled tomorrow in Tokyo.
"The term 'sex businesses' was inappropriate," he said yesterday on a television program.
"I must apologize to the US military and American people and retract my comment."
But Hashimoto said he has no intention of retracting his other controversial comment that "comfort women" served a "necessary" role during World War II in keeping soldiers in line.
His claim drew criticism from countries under Japan's rule in the 1930s and 1940s.
Most historians agree the Asian women were pressed into sexual slavery for the Japanese imperial army.
Hashimoto has insisted Japan's soldiers were not unique in brutalizing women.
On Friday, he said his remarks were misinterpreted.
"I happen to have used the word 'necessity' but it doesn't mean I personally meant it was necessary," he said.
"I mean that it is a historical truth that soldiers were using women. Was it not necessary for them?"
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto had suggested that US servicemen in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, where relations are frequently tested by violent crimes including rapes and assaults, patronize legal sex businesses there.
As the remark triggered disgust in the United States and outrage in Okinawa, Hashimoto said he would retract it at a press conference scheduled tomorrow in Tokyo.
"The term 'sex businesses' was inappropriate," he said yesterday on a television program.
"I must apologize to the US military and American people and retract my comment."
But Hashimoto said he has no intention of retracting his other controversial comment that "comfort women" served a "necessary" role during World War II in keeping soldiers in line.
His claim drew criticism from countries under Japan's rule in the 1930s and 1940s.
Most historians agree the Asian women were pressed into sexual slavery for the Japanese imperial army.
Hashimoto has insisted Japan's soldiers were not unique in brutalizing women.
On Friday, he said his remarks were misinterpreted.
"I happen to have used the word 'necessity' but it doesn't mean I personally meant it was necessary," he said.
"I mean that it is a historical truth that soldiers were using women. Was it not necessary for them?"
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