January 12, 2015

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is planning to release a government statement this year marking the 70th year since the end of WWII as a part of his attempt to justify the past war of aggression.

On January 5 at a New Year press conference, asked about the planned statement, Abe said that his Cabinet “upholds the position on the recognition outlined by the previous administrations in its entirety, including the Murayama Statement.” The Murayama Statement was issued by the then Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end (August 15, 1995), showing remorse and expressing apology for Japan’s colonial rule and aggression toward Asian nations.

PM Abe has indicated his disapproval of the Murayama Statement many times. For example, in a Diet meeting in March 2014, when quoting the statement, he deliberately omitted sentences which express regret for Japan’s act of aggression. On a BS TV program aired on January 9, asked if the government plans to include words and phrases such as “remorse”, “colonial rule”, and “aggression” in the statement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said, “There is no need for a new statement if those words and phrases are included,” thus hinting at doing away with them.

The prime minister has also repeatedly made remarks denying the Kono Statement (August 4, 1995), which admits to the Japanese military’s involvement in the so-called comfort woman system and expresses an apology to the victims.

If the prime minister issues a statement based on his historical view glorifying nation’s aggressive war, it will pose a challenge to the post-war international order and cause serious damage to relations with Asian neighbors.