October 3, 2014
In relation to the Japanese military sex slavery system, the Liberal Democratic Party on October 2 adopted a resolution calling for a correction to the “mistaken” picture the international community has accepted as true.
The LDP move contradicts the government position following the 1993 Kono Statement which admits to the Imperial Japanese Army’s involvement in the “comfort women” system and which gave an apology to the victims.
Recently, the so-called Yoshida Testimony that women on Jeju Island had forcibly been carted off as sex slaves has turned out to be false, which in tune has encouraged right-wing media and pro-“Yasukuni” political groups to gloss over Japan’s past war of aggression.
With the exposure of the fabricated testimony, the credibility of accounts of sexual assault by Japanese soldiers has come into question, and comfort women statues in various parts of the world have completely lost their significance, the resolution claims.
However, Akahata refutes this claim: No matter how many times it denies the forcible transportation of women by taking advantage of the discredited testimony, it is impossible to deny the fact that many women who had no freedom of choice sexually served Japanese soldiers under coercion.
So far, seven national or regional assemblies in the world adopted recommendations or resolutions of protest against Japan regarding the comfort women issue.
They all consider the sex slavery system or forced labor at comfort stations as a serious problem which needs to be addressed, regardless of the presence or absence of forcible recruitment of the women.
The LDP resolution is posing a challenge to this internationally accepted recognition that the system was indeed in place.
Past related articles:
> Abe Cabinet decides to not retract official apology to ‘comfort women’ [June 21, 2014]
> Foreign Ministry also had evidence of forcible recruitment of ‘comfort women’ [April 24, 2014]
> New evidence of forcible recruiting of comfort women found [April 7, 2014]
> Monument for ‘comfort women’ tells the truth [May 27, 2013]
The LDP move contradicts the government position following the 1993 Kono Statement which admits to the Imperial Japanese Army’s involvement in the “comfort women” system and which gave an apology to the victims.
Recently, the so-called Yoshida Testimony that women on Jeju Island had forcibly been carted off as sex slaves has turned out to be false, which in tune has encouraged right-wing media and pro-“Yasukuni” political groups to gloss over Japan’s past war of aggression.
With the exposure of the fabricated testimony, the credibility of accounts of sexual assault by Japanese soldiers has come into question, and comfort women statues in various parts of the world have completely lost their significance, the resolution claims.
However, Akahata refutes this claim: No matter how many times it denies the forcible transportation of women by taking advantage of the discredited testimony, it is impossible to deny the fact that many women who had no freedom of choice sexually served Japanese soldiers under coercion.
So far, seven national or regional assemblies in the world adopted recommendations or resolutions of protest against Japan regarding the comfort women issue.
They all consider the sex slavery system or forced labor at comfort stations as a serious problem which needs to be addressed, regardless of the presence or absence of forcible recruitment of the women.
The LDP resolution is posing a challenge to this internationally accepted recognition that the system was indeed in place.
Past related articles:
> Abe Cabinet decides to not retract official apology to ‘comfort women’ [June 21, 2014]
> Foreign Ministry also had evidence of forcible recruitment of ‘comfort women’ [April 24, 2014]
> New evidence of forcible recruiting of comfort women found [April 7, 2014]
> Monument for ‘comfort women’ tells the truth [May 27, 2013]
