Mar 1, 10:37 PM EST

Japan's Abe: No proof of WWII sex slaves
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Associated Press Writer


TOKYO (AP) -- Yasuji Kaneko, 87, still remembers the screams of the countless women he raped in China as a soldier in the Japanese imperial army in World War II. Some were teenagers from Korea serving as sex slaves in military-run brothels. Others were women in villages he and his comrades pillaged in eastern China.
"They cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died," Kaneko said in an interview with The Associated Press at his Tokyo home. "We were the emperor's soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctance."
Historians say some 200,000 women - mostly from Korea and China - served in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Many victims say they were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops, and the top government spokesman acknowledged the wrongdoing in 1993.
Now some in Japan's government are questioning whether the apology was needed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday denied women were forced into military brothels across Asia, boosting renewed efforts by right-wing politicians to push for an official revision of the apology.
"The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion," Abe said.
Abe's remarks contradicted evidence in Japanese documents unearthed in 1992 that historians said showed military authorities had a direct role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for the brothels.
The comments were certain to rile South Korea and China, which accuse Tokyo of failing to fully atone for wartime atrocities. Abe's government has been recently working to repair relations with Seoul and Beijing.
The statement came just hours after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun marked a national holiday honoring the anniversary of a 1919 uprising against Japanese colonial rule by urging Tokyo to come clean about its past.
Roh also referred to hearings held by the U.S. House of Representatives last month on a resolution urging Japan to "apologize for and acknowledge" the imperial army's use of sex slaves during the war.
"The testimony reiterated a message that no matter how hard the Japanese try to cover the whole sky with their hand, there is no way that the international community would condone the atrocities committed during Japanese colonial rule," Roh said.
Dozens of people rallied outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to mark the anniversary, lining up dead dogs' heads on the ground with pieces of paper in their mouths listing names of Koreans who allegedly collaborated with the Japanese during its 1910-45 colonial rule. Protest organizers said the animals were slaughtered at a restaurant; dogs are regularly consumed as food in Korea.
Roh's office said late Thursday it did not immediately have a direct response to the Japanese leader's remarks. In Beijing, calls to the Chinese Foreign Ministry seeking comment on the remarks were not immediately returned.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack would not comment on Abe's statement. "I'll let the Japanese political system deal with that," he said.
Abe's comments were a reversal from the government's previous stance. In 1993, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono apologized to the victims of sex slavery, though the statement did not meet demands by former "comfort women" that it be approved by parliament.
Two years later, the government set up a compensation fund for victims, but it was based on private donations - not government money - and has been criticized as a way for the government to avoid owning up to the abuse. The mandate is to expire March 31.
The sex slave question has been a cause celebre for nationalist politicians and scholars in Japan who claim the women were professional prostitutes and were not coerced into servitude by the military.
Before Abe spoke Thursday, a group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers discussed their plans for a proposal to urge the government to water down parts of the 1993 apology and deny direct military involvement.
Nariaki Nakayama, chairman of the group of about 120 lawmakers, sought to play down the government's involvement in the brothels by saying it was similar to a school that hires a company to run its cafeteria.
"Some say it is useful to compare the brothels to college cafeterias run by private companies, who recruit their own staff, procure foodstuffs, and set prices," he said.
"Where there's demand, businesses crop up ... but to say women were forced by the Japanese military into service is off the mark," he said. "This issue must be reconsidered, based on truth ... for the sake of Japanese honor."
Sex slave victims, however, say they still suffer wounds - physical and psychological - from the war.
Lee Yong-soo, 78, a South Korean who was interviewed during a recent trip to Tokyo, said she was 14 when Japanese soldiers took her from her home in 1944 to work as a sex slave in Taiwan.
"The Japanese government must not run from its responsibilities," said Lee, who has long campaigned for Japanese compensation. "I want them to apologize. To admit that they took me away, when I was a little girl, to be a sex slave. To admit that history."
"I was so young. I did not understand what had happened to me," she said. "My cries then still ring in my ears. Even now, I can't sleep."
---
AP writer Burt Herman contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.



Japan won't apologise again for WW2 sex slaves

Mon Mar 5, 2007 1:30 PM GMT

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that Japan would not apologise again for forcing women, mostly Asians, to act as wartime sex slaves for its soldiers even if U.S. lawmakers adopt a resolution calling for an apology.

Abe, seeking to bolster support among his conservative base, has already sparked diplomatic ire by appearing to question the state's role in forcing the women to prostitute themselves for soldiers during World War Two.

U.S. Congressman Michael Honda, a California Democrat, has introduced a non-binding resolution calling on Japan to unambiguously apologise for the tragedy that thousands of Asian women, many Korean, endured at the hands of its Imperial Army.

"I have to say that even if the resolution passes, that doesn't mean we will apologise," Abe told a parliamentary panel on Monday, adding the U.S. resolution contained factual errors.

But Abe repeated that he stood by a 1993 government apology that acknowledged the Japanese military's role in setting up and managing wartime brothels and that coercion was used.

"It is not true that Japan has never reflected or apologised," he told reporters later.

"The facts are as contained in the (1993) statement."

Abe, who wants to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution and restore a sense of pride in the nation's past, upset his core conservative supporters and startled critics when he softened his stance on wartime history after taking office last September.

Among those shifts was his decision to stand by the 1993 apology, known at the "Kono Statement," after then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, in whose name it was issued.

CHILLY TIES

The softer stance on history was widely seen as an attempt to smooth the way for summits with China and South Korea and improve ties that had chilled under his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.

Then last week, Abe sparked a fierce reaction from Seoul when he appeared to question the degree to which physical coercion was involved in recruiting the women for the brothels.

"There is no evidence to back up that there was coercion as defined initially," he told reporters on Thursday, apparently referring to accusations that the Imperial Army had kidnapped women and put them in brothels to serve soldiers.

An outraged South Korea charged that the comment cast doubt on the sincerity of Japan's past apology and the matter is likely to be broached in bilateral talks slated for March 12 in Tokyo.

On Monday, Abe said there seemed to have been some apparent cases of coercion, such as by middlemen, but he added: "It was not as though military police broke into people's homes and took them away like kidnappers."

Some experts agree that not all or even most of the women were physically coerced, but they say that does not absolve the Japanese government of responsibility for their suffering.

"If you look at the statements of comfort women themselves, very few are saying that people actually came into their houses and forced them to leave," said Andrew Horvat, a professor at Tokyo Keizai University who has written on the topic.

MOOT POINT

"But recruiters were working for the government and in that sense they were responsible for it, and whether it was physical coercion or the use of authority and deception is really a moot point," he added.

Abe's effort to draw such distinctions, analysts said, stems from a desire to please his conservative base while not caving in entirely to pressure to revise or withdraw the 1993 apology.

A group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers is discussing the topic and may ask the government to revise the 1993 statement.

Abe's popularity has been dented in recent months by doubts about his leadership capabilities, a worrisome decline for the LDP ahead of July elections for parliament's upper house.

"Abe is unpopular and he is trying to mobilise his core supporters, who tend to be sort of right-wing and nationalist," said Phil Deans, a professor of international affairs at Temple University's Japan Campus.

"My impression is that most Japanese voters are worried about old-fashioned bread-and-butter issues and find all of this a distraction," Deans said.

"But the general public watches the U.S. closely and if this clearly upsets America, that would be damaging," he added.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies and George Nishiyama)



China tells Japan to face up to wartime sex crimes

Tue Mar 6, 2007 11:51 AM GMT

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan must confront its past of coercing women into prostitution with Japanese troops in World War Two, China's foreign minister said on Tuesday, nonetheless stressing hopes of improved ties between the two Asian powers.

"The forced use of so-called 'comfort women' was one of the most serious crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists in World War Two," Li Zhaoxing told a news conference on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament.

"Comfort women" is a euphemism for wartime sex slaves.

"I think the Japanese government should recognise historical facts, and should accept the responsibility to earnestly and appropriately deal with this problem," Li said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred fresh anger in Asian countries last week with comments that there was no evidence to validate claims that Asian women were coerced into serving as sex slaves for the Japanese army.

Many historians estimate that as many as 200,000 "comfort women" were forced into the Imperial Japanese Army's brothels. Most women were from Korea but women from China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia were also involved.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is due to visit Japan in April as the two Asian powers seek to ease long-running hostility centred on their wartime past and China's rising regional ambitions.

In his comments, Li avoided directly criticising Abe by name and stressed his hopes that Wen's visit will bring the two wartime foes closer together -- a rhetorical contrast to past years when Japan's treatment of its wartime misdeeds dragged relations into frosty confrontation.

"This year marks the 35th anniversary of normalisation of ties between China and Japan, and we should take in hand this important opportunity to develop China-Japan relations," Li said.

"We're willing to strengthen cooperation with Japan in every sphere," he said, adding that China wants to amicably settle a dispute over the two countries' boundary in the East China Sea.

Once known for his tough talk towards China, Abe has worked to repair ties since taking office in September, partly by declining to say if he would visit a controversial shrine for Japan's war dead, seen by Beijing as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Before taking office, Abe had visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after Japan's defeat.

Wen's visit would be the first by a top Chinese leader since then-premier Zhu Rongji in October 2000. Li recently visited Japan to lay the groundwork for Wen's visit.

"I'm even more confident that Premier Wen Jiabao's formal visit to Japan will be a success," Li said.

On Tuesday, Taiwan -- the self-ruled island that China claims as its own -- expressed its "severe opposition" to Abe's comments. Taiwan wants Japan to apologise to and compensate the enslaved women, said the island's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.