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No sex slave evidence - Japan
16/03/2007 12:36 - (SA)
Tokyo - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government said on Friday it did not believe there was proof Japan forced women into World War II brothels, reiterating remarks that caused an uproar earlier this month.
"The government did not find evidence showing forced recruitment by Japanese military authorities or bureaucrats," Abe's cabinet said in a policy statement in parliament responding to a question by an opposition lawmaker.
It said, however, that Abe's cabinet would not change a landmark 1993 apology that the Japanese government issued to former sex slaves.
The 1993 apology "was not endorsed by the then cabinet of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa but successive Japanese cabinets have inherited it," the statement said.
Physical coercion
Abe, known for his conservative views on history, caused outrage earlier this month when he said there was no evidence that so-called "comfort women" were forced into sexual slavery "in the strict sense of coercion".
He later elaborated, saying he was talking about physical coercion, such as kidnappings of women by Japanese soldiers to put them into brothels.
After an uproar, Abe has said repeatedly that he stands "sincerely" by the 1993 apology.
Historians say up to 200 000 young women, mostly from Korea but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels.
The 1993 statement, issued by the top government spokesperson at the time, apologised to comfort women and said the imperial army was involved "directly or indirectly" in their recruitment and in the management of the brothels.
Despite Abe's insistence he stands by the statement, he has said the government will provide information to a group of conservative lawmakers who want to water down the text.
- AFP
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