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Japan to probe WWII military brothels
2007-03-08
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that ruling party lawmakers will conduct a fresh investigation into the Japanese military's use of brothels during World War II. The government is ready to cooperate with the investigation, Abe said, amid calls for a review from conservatives who question many of the claims by victims and others who say the government kidnapped the women and forced them into sex slavery. "I was told the party will conduct an investigation or a study, so we will provide government documents and cooperate as necessary," Abe told reporters. Abe triggered outrage across Asia last week by saying there was no proof the women were coerced into prostitution. He said on Monday that Japan will not apologize again for the Japanese military's "comfort stations." The top government spokesman said earlier Thursday that Japan's position on the coercion of women into sex slavery during WWII had been misinterpreted and misrepresented by the U.S. media, and that Tokyo would soon issue a rebuttal. "My remarks have been twisted in a sense and reported overseas, which further invites misunderstanding," Abe said. "This is an extremely unproductive situation." Last week's comments came as the U.S. House of Representatives was considering a resolution that urges Japan to formally apologize for its wartime brothels. Japanese leaders apologized in 1993 for the government's role, but the apology was not approved by Parliament. Abe said Thursday that he "basically stands by the 1993 apology." 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. Abe's comments have incensed critics in China, North and South Korea, and the Philippines, who have demanded Japan acknowledge its responsibility. The fallout from the remarks continued to build Thursday. The coercion of women into prostitution was "one of the key, serious crimes committed by Japanese imperial soldiers," Qin Gang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said during a regular news briefing. "We hope that Japan can show courage, take a responsible attitude toward history," he said.
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