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A chorus of voices vehemently criticizing the Japanese government for its denial of responsibility for the sexual enslavement of women during World War II has been raised around the world. Following moves by the U.S., Germany and Canada have condemned the denials and called for action.
The Canadian Parliament is pushing for the passage of a resolution calling for Japan to apologize for its "comfort women" atrocities and compensate the victims. The bill was submitted by New Democratic Party Rep. Wayne Marston. A motion passed Tuesday in a vote of four to three by the Subcommittee on International Human Rights under the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian House of Commons. Marston said, "Prime Minister Abe must be pressured to formally apologize and to institute a program to compensate the 50,000 to 200,000 women who were forced to serve in military brothels during World War II."
The German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung criticized Abe on Wednesday for openly denying the responsibility of the Imperial Japanese Army in enslaving women. In a column entitled "Historisches Versäumnis (Historical Omission)," the newspaper accused Abe of making a calculated bid to recover from a loss of public confidence after suffering internal setbacks. The column says Abe seems to believe that although his statements may rub salt in the wounds of the former comfort women, he could perhaps win support from the Japanese people for his nationalistic stance.
Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Asian edition of Newsweek magazine includes a column that downplays Japan’s wartime atrocities. The article by right-wing Japanese historian Hideaki Kase says, "U.S. Army records in 1944 explicitly declare that the comfort women were prostitutes." Yonhap News reported that Newsweek has been inundated with mail and phone calls from readers calling for the dismissal of its editor or a boycott of the magazine.
A report filed by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in May 1945 states that 25 Korean women who escaped from a Japanese military unit in Kunming, China, and surrendered to the Chinese Army, had become sex slaves "apparently under compulsion and misrepresentation." Kase seems to have disregarded the full context of the report and deliberately distorted the facts by claiming Korean women volunteered to serve as comfort women.
The Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday that Abe has been trying to move past the comfort women issue but has been unsuccessful because his associates, including Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura, keep making provocative remarks.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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