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The number of co-sponsors of a resolution on ¡°comfort women¡± in the U.S. Congress has increased from the initial six to 42, Japan¡¯s Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday. The resolution condemns Japan¡¯s enslavement of women from neighboring Asian countries during World War II and demands an apology from the Japanese government. The office of the Japanese-American Congressman Michael Honda, the architect of the resolution, expects the number of supporters to rise further, the newspaper said.
The resolution will be put to the vote at the Congress committee on foreign affairs or its subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment as early as late this month and is considered highly likely to pass if the number of co-sponsors keeps increasing, the Japanese daily said. As of Monday, 32 co-sponsors came from the Democrats and 10 from the Republicans, most of them from the progressive end. However, conservative presidential contender Duncan Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, also expressed support for the resolution. The number of supporters rose as the U.S. press widely criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s remarks denying the Japanese government and military involvement in the coercion of sex slaves. Abe aid early this month there was no evidence that Japanese authorities hunted and forced women into sexual slavery. Some 17 U.S. lawmakers joined the move to sponsor the resolution in March alone.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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