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Japan PM to stand by sex slaves apology
2007-03-04
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will stand by Japan's apology over forcing Asian women to have sex with Japanese troops in the last century, an aide said Sunday, after the leader's denial that Tokyo used coercion caused an international uproar. "Though there are many definitions of coercion, Prime Minister Abe has said ... that he will stand by the Kono statement," said Hiroshige Seko, special adviser in charge of Abe's public relations, referring to a 1993 statement issued by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono apologizing to the victims of sex slavery. The Kono statement also acknowledged many women were forced into prostitution and that the military government was involved in some cases. "He has not denied the statement," Seko told a TV Asahi talk show. He did not attempt to explain the apparent discrepancies between the statement and Abe's denial that coercion was involved. "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion," Abe said on Thursday. South Korea later lodged an official protest, accusing the leader of "glossing over the historical truth." Rights activists in the Philippines also slammed Abe for labeling the slaves as common prostitutes. Historians say that about 200,000 women -- mostly from Korea and China -- served in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Accounts of abuse by the military have been backed up by witnesses, and even former Japanese soldiers. Abe's statement contradicted evidence in Japanese documents, unearthed in 1992, that historians said showed that military authorities had a direct role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for the brothels. But prominent Japanese scholars and politicians routinely deny direct military involvement or the use of force in rounding up the women, blaming private contractors for the abuses.
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