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Japan PM renews apology
26/03/2007 16:07 - (SA)
Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is seeking to end an uproar over his remarks on World War 2 sex slaves, on Monday apologised again to the so-called "comfort women".
Abe has repeatedly said he stands by Japan's landmark 1993 apology to the thousands of former sex slaves, while saying he felt no need to make a fresh statement.
But questioned in parliament by a leftist lawmaker on whether he was apologising himself, Abe said he was.
Abe said: "I am apologising now as the prime minister.
"This has been stated in the Kono statement."
In 1993, a statement by then chief government spokesperson Yohei Kono apologised to former comfort women and acknowledged that Japan was involved directly or indirectly in causing their suffering.
'Forced to serve as sex slaves'
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.
Abe earlier this month triggered an uproar when he said there was no evidence Japan directly coerced comfort women.
He later elaborated by saying he was talking of coercion in the "strict" sense, such as kidnapping women.
In his remarks on Monday, Abe repeated that the military was involved in coercion in the broad sense, but said he was not casting blame on all troops.
'Unambiguous apology' demanded
The row about comfort women comes amid a push in the US congress to pass a resolution that would demand Japan make an unambiguous apology to former sex slaves and offer direct compensation.
Japan has lobbied aggressively against the bill, which is seen as more likely to pass since the Democrats took power from President George W Bush's Republicans in January.
Abe's government has been stung by harsh criticism in the US media on comfort women.
Most recently, The Washington Post said in an editorial on Saturday that Abe's remarks had weakened his moral authority in pressing North Korea over its past abductions of Japanese nationals.
But the prime minister, who has built his career on the abduction row, rejected any link between that matter and the comfort women remarks.
"They are totally separate issues," said Abe.
"The abduction issue concerns the ongoing infringement on human rights. The comfort women issue is not a matter which is continuing."
Abe has refused to fund a breakthrough deal on freezing North Korea's nuclear programme due to the abductions dispute.
North Korea has returned five Japanese civilians kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s, but Tokyo says more are alive and kept under wraps.
- AFP
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