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From the category archives:
comfort women
By Norimitsu Onishi
Friday, March 2, 2007
TOKYO: A denial by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the Japanese military had forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II is a clear sign that the government is preparing to reject a 1993 government statement that acknowledged the military’s role in setting up brothels and forcing, either directly or indirectly, women into sexual slavery.
That declaration also offered an apology to the women, euphemistically called “comfort women.”
“There is no evidence to prove there was coercion, nothing to support it,” Abe told reporters Thursday. “So, in respect to this declaration, you have to keep in mind that things have changed greatly.”
His remarks came as the U.S. House of Representatives has begun debating a resolution that would call on Tokyo to “apologize for and acknowledge” the military’s role in wartime sex slavery.
(more…)
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Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) has introduced what is now *House Resolution 121*, which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives of the United States that the Government of Japan should formally acknowledge and accept responsibility for it’s sexual enslavement of “comfort women” during it’s occupation of Asia in the first half of the 20th century. The majority of the 200,000 victims were Korean girls and women, many of them in their teens.
The resolution is sponsored so far by Representatives Edward R. Royce (CA-40), Christopher H. Smith (NJ-4), Diane E. Watson (CA-33), David Wu (OR-1), Phil Hare (IL-17), and Delegate Madaleine Bordallo (GU). Previous similar efforts were blocked successfully by powerful lobbyists for the Japanese government and those who believe that such a resolution would damage relations with Tokyo.
A hearing on this resolution is scheduled for Thursday, February 15t.
Learn how you can help by visiting Justice for Comfort Women.
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