Signatures submitted to Diet for settlement of wartime sex slave issue

Japan Press Weekly

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Signatures submitted to Diet for settlement of wartime sex slave issue

Members of the New Japan Women's Association (NJWA) on May 31 submitted to the Diet 15,126 signatures calling for an early settlement of the wartime sex slave issue. Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Kami Tomoko received the petition.

The petition demands that the Japanese government offer an official apology and compensation to the women in Korea and other Asian countries who had been forced to serve the Japanese Army as sex slaves during WW II.

NJWA President Takada Kimiko stressed that there is little time left for the aging victims, calling for an immediate initiative to be taken by Dietmembers.

Governments of the U.S, South Korea, and other nations have adopted a resolution urging the Japanese government to officially apologize and pay compensation to the victims of the war crime. A similar recommendation was sent to the Japanese government by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

- Akahata, June 1, 2010