WASHINGTON. Former U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, known in Korea as the congressman who helped pass the first U.S. resolution ever to condemn Japan for the sexual enslavement of women, died Thursday morning. He was 83.
A Republican who represented an Illinois district for 32 years, Hyde died in his sleep at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was admitted last weekend for a heart condition.
It was under his hairmanship of the House Committee on International Relations on Sept. 13, 2006, that the committee passed the first resolution ever holding Japan accountable for the sexual slavery of women during its colonial occupation of Asia in the past century.
House Resolution 759 was endorsed in a consensus vote to say Japan should unambiguously acknowledge and accept responsibility for the victims, known as “comfort women.”
Most of the them were young Korean girls, whose country was under Japanese colonial rule until being liberated at the end of World War II.
Many credit Hyde for his support that, under the new Democrat Congress that took office earlier this year, led to repeated passage of the comfort women resolution in the committee, now called Foreign Affairs Committee, in June.
In July, the resolution also passed the full House with the backing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The South Korean government awarded Hyde a medal to recognize his contributions to better ties between Seoul and Washington. (Yonhap)