Although utterly outrageous, Aso's statement reflects the view of many Japanese people who believe that during the occupation Korea belonged to Japan. And if Korean women, who were Japanese subjects, were pressed into service for Japanese soldiers, then there was no damage done to another country, was there?

A similar question was raised Monday on an evening talk show on Asahi TV. A participant urged the Japanese government to acknowledge the comfort women before appealing to the world about North Korea's abductions. Another guest shouted back, "We can't lie, can we?" The implication was that stating that the Japanese military had coerced Korean women into sex slavery would be untrue. The discussion ended with this outburst; nobody disputed it or demanded "Why would it be a lie?"

The Sankei Shimbun, Japan's sixth-largest daily newspaper, carried an article written from Seoul on Wednesday. "South Korea is again agitated about the comfort women," it began, and it covered the local media's criticism of Japan for coercing women into sex slavery. "They enjoy this 'national ecstasy' of criticizing Japan almost every day."

The article went on to say that in South Korea comfort women are national heroines, and that South Korea's insistence on Japanese wrongdoings is an attempt to demonstrate its moral supremacy over Japan.

Much of the article focused on criticizing the Chosun Ilbo. Quoting an anonymous source, it said, "Lying behind the globalization of the comfort women issue is the 'shadow of North Korea.' Even the Chosun Ilbo, the strongest critic of North Korea, has sympathized with the logic of North Korea's dictatorial regime in its criticism of Japan."

As an example, the story cited a Chosun Ilbo column entitled "The Twisted Logic of Mr. and Mrs. Nakayama" carried on this page last Wednesday. The column wrote about the contradictory case of Mr. and Mrs. Nakayama: the husband denies that Japan abducted women into sex slavery while his wife is bent on publicizing North Korea's abduction of Japanese people.

"It's typical of North Korean authorities and pro-North supporters to divert criticism (for the abduction of Japanese citizens) by digging up old stories and attacking Japan," the article said. The Chosun Ilbo, the article claimed, has joined North Korea in the ruse.

Last Wednesday, a small meeting was held in the parliamentarians hall of the Japanese House of Representatives. About 150 people listened to a lecture on comfort women by Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a professor of history at Tokyo's Chuo University. Yoshimi distributed a paper that clearly illustrated how Japanese soldiers forced innocent women into sex slavery.

After reading the material, one of the attendees asked, "Some politicians are denying that women were abducted, maybe because they don't know the facts. Shouldn't we have them read this?" Whether they know the facts or not, Yoshimi said, the problem is that those politicians don't want to admit to this shameful history.

There is little we can do if Japan's leaders refuse to recognize the facts or if they choose to remain ignorant. If they insist on declaring that the Chosun Ilbo sympathizes with North Korea or that the comfort women were Japanese subjects, then we must simply regard such nonsense as a barometer indicating the level of thoughtful discussion in Japan. But we certainly cannot accept newspaper stories that claim that Koreans are enjoying the "national ecstasy" of criticizing Japan for its crimes.

The Japanese people, the aggressors, may enjoy their "national ecstasy" of looking back fondly on the time when they occupied Korea, oppressed her people and forced her women into sex slavery. But we Koreans can never do that. How could the victims of such crimes ever enjoy the memories of the past?

This column was contributed by Son-U Jong, the Chosun Ilbo's correspondent in Tokyo.