Condemning Wartime Atrocities
It's Time for Japan to Sincerely Apologize for Sex Slavery
A U.S. House committee has taken a first step toward condemning Japan's sexual enslavement during World War II by passing a resolution on ``comfort women.'' The resolution passed the Foreign Affairs Committee 39-2 Tuesday, garnering overwhelming support from congressmen. The passage carries significant meaning to sexual slavery victims as well as those suffering from wartime atrocities committed by Japanese troops.
Former comfort women have desperately waited for 62 years for such a resolution to be passed. They welcomed the action by the House panel and expressed hopes that the U.S. Congress will pass the resolution in a plenary session, opening the way for Japan's sincere apology and compensation for their suffering. The sex slavery was one of the most egregious violations of human rights in the 20th century. It might not be in parallel with the Holocaust, but it was a hideous crime against humanity.
More than 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other Asian countries were estimated to have served as sex slaves for frontline Japanese troops. They have been virtually left out in the cold ever since Japan was defeated in 1945. They can never forget their pain because Tokyo continues to gloss over its past brutalities and wrongdoings. They still vent their anger against Japanese leaders, especially rightwing politicians, who refuse to acknowledge the brutal acts.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is still lacking in sincerity in apologizing to his Asian neighbors for the sexual slavery. He sticks to the 1993 statement by former Japanese Chief Cabinet Minister Yohei Kono that apologized for the Japanese military's ``involvement’’ in the use of women as sex slaves. Many Japanese officials and lawmakers claim that there exists no evidence proving the forced mobilization of comfort women, a euphemism for wartime sex slaves.
Sixty-three Japanese right-wingers paid for an advertisement June 14 in the Washington Post under the title, ``The Facts,'' denying the Japanese army's coercion of innocent women into sexual enslavement. The co-signers of the ad included lawmakers, professors and journalists representing the Japanese intellectual class. Riding on the wave of the rightwing trend in Japanese society, the island country has struggled to distort history and gloss over its past atrocities.
It is somewhat regrettable that the House resolution toned down the wordings of its initial text that demanded an unequivocal apology by the Japanese prime minister. However, it retains its demand that the Tokyo government ``formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner'' for the coercion of young women into sexual slavery.
We hope the U.S. Congress will pass the resolution finally to help the victims relieve their pain and restore their human dignity. Before the expected passage of the resolution, Japan should make the utmost efforts to sincerely acknowledge and apologize for its wartime crime. Only after that can Japan develop amity with Asian countries and help heal the wounds of their peoples who were put to the yoke of Japan's brutal colonial rule and wartime atrocities.