hankyoreh

the former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary

By Jeong Nam-ku, Tokyo correspondent

Yohei Kono, the former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary who in 1993 acknowledged and apologized for the forcible drafting of so-called “comfort women” as sexual slaves to the Japanese military, issued a stern warning on Oct. 8 against the country’s continued denials.

Kono said the country could “lose national credibility” if it continues denying the coercion involved in the women’s mobilization.

In an interview with the editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun’s “Witness to History” column, Kono said his 1993 statement reflected the determination of then-prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa’s cabinet following close examination of materials from South Korea, Japan, and the US National Archives.

“It was not adopted as a Cabinet meeting decision, but all subsequent Japanese Cabinets abided by it,” he added.

Kono said he felt “saddened to hear people arguing for over half a century after the war as though these suffering women and their wartime tragedy never existed, pointing to the lack of documentary evidence.”

He added that if Japan continues denying the issue, it “may end up having its human rights position and national credibility called into question not only in Asia but in the nations of America and Europe.”

In the interview, Kono explained the process of deciding the statement’s content. After his predecessor, Koichi Kato, stated in July 1992 that an investigation had found no documentary evidence to confirm the forcible nature of the comfort women’s mobilization, Kono asked the police, defense ministry, foreign ministry, and other agencies to reopen the investigation.

Finally, sixteen survivors were interviewed directly, Kono recounted. The accounts indicated that the Japanese military either threatened the women into going along or misleadingly told them that they would be working at factories.

“Some of them testified that women had to service 20 or more soldiers a day, and that they were abandoned when the Japanese forces were routed,” he added.

According to Kono, it was determined that the accounts should be viewed on the whole as indicating coercion, since the women were not in a position to defy the Japanese military.

He also recalled that Miyazawa expressed shock upon reading the women‘s testimony.

Analysts saw Kono’s interview as expressing his profound concern about denials of the forcible mobilization by prominent political figures like Osaka mayor and Japan Restoration Party chief Toru Hashimoto. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during his recent successful campaign for the Liberal Democratic Party chairmanship that he would “revise” Kono’s statement if his party comes to power.

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