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At the U.S.-Japan summit in Washington D.C. on Friday, something absurd happened in the matter of women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized to U.S. President George W. Bush, saying ¡°As an individual, and the prime minister, I sympathize from the bottom of my heart with the former comfort women who experienced this extreme hardship. I'm deeply sorry about the situation in which they were placed.¡± President Bush said, ¡°I accept the prime minister's apology.¡± Why did Abe apologize to Bush, as opposed to the elderly women who are still living with the nightmares of being forced into sexual slavery, and what authority does the U.S. president have to accept such an apology?
It¡¯s not Bush, nor by extension the American public, but the 200,000 Asian women from Korea, China and other countries who were dragged off by the Japanese military to suffer rape, forced abortions and torture during World War II. When he was chief cabinet secretary, Abe said the issue of sex slaves was a ¡°fabrication and concoction by the media.¡± When he became prime minister, Abe said ¡°there is no evidence of forced mobilization of the comfort women.¡±
A man who used to distort and hide the truth, Abe started to get the jitters when the U.S. House of Representatives submitted a bill calling on Japan to apologize to the victims and the world. On April 3, he called Bush and told him he had been misquoted, and when he arrived in the U.S., he explained his position to Senate leaders before apologizing to Bush. Japan¡¯s Asahi Shimbun in an editorial said the apology was ¡°strange¡± and questioned Abe¡¯s motive for apologizing so quickly to the U.S. while ignoring the actual victims.
Bush said he valued the ¡°honesty¡± of Abe¡¯s apology. In reality, Abe did not budge an inch from his position that there was no evidence of the Japanese government or military forcibly mobilizing the sex slaves. Even though he is willing to accept the Kono Statement, which acknowledges the role of the Japanese government and military, Abe is saying there is ¡°no evidence of forced mobilization.¡± There is no change in Abe¡¯s stance, even though Japan¡¯s highest court on Friday acknowledged the Japanese military¡¯s role in abduction, confinement and rape of sex slaves in China.
What Abe really wants to say is that the sex slaves voluntarily put themselves in such a position to make money. Ten years ago, when he was the head of a group of lawmakers seeking to revise history education in Japan, Abe said ¡°Korea used to have many brothels.¡± There is no evidence showing that Abe¡¯s true feelings have changed. If that¡¯s the truth, then just what is the ¡°honesty¡± that Bush saw?
The 200,000 victims of sexual slavery will be watching how the absurd apology and acknowledgment exchanged between the leaders of Japan and the United States will affect the resolution before the U.S. House of Representatives.
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