Japan Press Weekly

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2007 June 27 - July 3 TOP3 [HISTORY]

Prime Minister Abe must sincerely respond to U.S. congressional resolution on ‘comfort women’: JCP Shii

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on June 27 said he would not comment on the resolution on the “comfort women” issue that the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee had passed on the previous day.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a press conference on June 28 severely criticized Abe’s remark, saying, “The prime minister cannot leave this issue as it is as if it were someone else’s problem. The root cause that has brought about this serious situation lies in the words and deeds of the pro-Yasukuni Shrine forces to justify and glorify Japan’s past war of aggression.”

The U.S. resolution states, “Japanese public and private officials have recently expressed a desire to dilute or rescind the 1993 statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on the ‘comfort women’, which expressed the Government’s sincere apologies and remorse for their ordeal.”

Shii pointed out that this resolution is criticizing Prime Minister Abe’s remark that there is no evidence to prove coercion as well as the Liberal Democratic, Democratic pro-Yasukuni dietmembers’ advertisement in the Washington Post.

“It is clear now that the international community will never allow the pro-Yasukuni forces’ bid to distort history,” Shii stressed.

The JCP chair demanded that Prime Minister Abe and the Japanese government sincerely examine the U.S. congressional resolution.

Shii further urged Abe to retract his remark and clearly admit before the international community Japan’s historical responsibility over the sex slavery issue. - Akahata, June 29, 2007