Japan has faced mounting international calls for an apology for forcing innocent women into sexual slavery for its frontline troops during World War II. The island country must act now as parliaments of the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the European Union have passed resolutions condemning its wartime brutality. Last Thursday, the European Parliament approved a resolution to ask the Japanese government to ``formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical and legal responsibility'' for the sexual enslavement.
We welcome the passage of the resolution since it constitutes a restoration of the victims' human rights trampled on by the Japanese Imperial Army. The move proves that Europeans have woken up to one of the world's largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century. Now, Japan has no reason to deny its brutality any more. Under the title of ``Justice for the Comfort Women,'' the resolution called on Tokyo to provide more compensation to the former sex salves and denounced recent remarks by Japanese officials shirking the country's responsibility. ``Comfort women'' is a euphemism referring to the sex enslavement victims.
According to documents and testimonies from surviving victims, the Japanese military forcibly mobilized as many as 200,000 women from Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and other Asian countries. Half of them were presumed to have been Koreans, while Dutch women living in Indonesia were also forced to serve the Japanese troops.
It is no surprise that more and more countries have endorsed similar resolutions condemning Japan's heinous crime against humanity. The United States initiated the move against Japan's wartime atrocities on July 30 when its Congress passed a non-binding resolution calling on the Japanese government to acknowledge and apologize for sex slavery.
Then, the Canadian and Dutch parliaments adopted similar motions in November. Members of parliaments in Australia and the Philippines are expected to follow suit, raising hope for international community's united action against Japan's past atrocity. It is an opportune time for more nations to publicize the brutality and join hands to prevent the recurrence of this shameful piece of history.
We highly appraise Amnesty International for its ``Stop Violence Against Women'' campaign. As part of the campaign, three survivors from South Korea, the Philippines and the Netherlands testified in the European Parliament in November to urge the EU to act on the comfort women issue. We hope the international community will do more to help the sex slavery victims relieve their pain and sorrow.
What's more important is that Tokyo should sincerely repent its past misdeeds and wrongdoings which infringed on the human rights of innocent victims. It is deplorable that Japan has been trying to whitewash its atrocities and distort history. It is imperative for Tokyo to sincerely apologize and compensate for the sexual enslavement before it's too late.