hankyoreh

Japanese Foreign Minister Aso Taro on February 19 expressed his displeasure regarding a proposed U.S. congressional resolution seeking Tokyo’s apology for the Japanese Army’s forcing of women to serve as sex slaves during World War II.

Minister Aso said, "The resolution wasn’t based on objective fact, and it is extremely regrettable that it didn’t consider any of the measures [already taken] by the Japanese government" relating to the issue. When asked the following question by a member of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at a parliamentary committee meeting - "According to the resolution, the Japanese soldiers forcefully used young women as sex slaves and killed them or drove them to commit suicide in the end. Do you share such a view?" - Minister Aso replied that he did not.

Thinking that if the resolution is adopted by the U.S. Congress, it will produce significant results, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo sent his spokesman to Washington to explain Tokyo’s position on the matter. The Japanese Embassy in the United States launched a campaign to prevent the resolution from being adopted by issuing a statement claiming that the resolution was inappropriate in that it demanded something Japan has already carried out. Japan has officially expressed "regret" over the issue, though has never issued a formal apology.

Eight resolutions regarding the problem have so far been submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996, but all of them have been rejected. However, the Japanese government worries that it is probable that the U.S.’s Democrat-controlled Congress will this time adopt the resolution. The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported that the unbinding resolution would be a sensitive issue ahead of Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the U.S. in April.

In the meantime, rightists of the LDP are reportedly going to urge Abe to correct the statement of former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, who acknowledged the fact that the Japanese army had "received the service" of the comfort women "by force."


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