Japan Press Weekly

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2014 June 18 - 24 [HISTORY]

Abe Cabinet decides to not retract official apology to ‘comfort women’

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said at a news conference on June 20 that the Abe Cabinet will not revise the 1993 Kono Statement which acknowledged that the Imperial Japanese Army was involved in operating a sex slavery system during World War II (the so-called “comfort women” issue) and which officially apologized to the victims.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo set up a working group consisting of five experts under the chief cabinet secretary to have the team “examine” how the statement was compiled.

That day, Suga made public a report on the investigation results submitted by the team. The report states that the process of working out the statement and the substance of it should be regarded as “justifiable”.

Later in the day, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Miyamoto Takeshi questioned at a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee Council whether the Abe government shares the view of the Kono Statement which admitted that the Japanese military coerced those women to serve as sex slaves.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu replied, “That’s right. We won’t change that understanding in the least.”

JCP Chair Shii Kazuo remarked at the JCP parliamentarians’ general meeting that the fact that the Abe administration gave up its attempt to rewrite the statement will deliver a “crushing blow” to the forces trying to glorify Japan’s war of aggression.

The chair also expressed his determination to continue to work to resolve the issue, stressing, “The JCP will strongly urge the government to provide compensation to the victims as well as to give Japanese children an accurate portrayal of the issue based on historical facts.”

Past related article:
> Don’t falsify historical facts: Shii at press conf. on comfort women issue [March 15, 2014]