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Japan PM apologises for WWII sex slaves
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under fire abroad for denying government involvement in forcing women to serve as sex slaves during the Second World War, said yesterday he was "apologising here and now as the prime minister".
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 March 27, 2007
Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under fire abroad for denying government involvement in forcing women to serve as sex slaves during the Second World War, said yesterday he was "apologising here and now as the prime minister".
Abe said earlier this month there was no proof Japan's government or army kidnapped women to serve as "comfort women," as the wartime sex slaves are known in Japan.
He has also said he stood by a 1993 apology known as the Kono Statement that acknowledged official involvement in the brothels. However, he ruled out any new apology, even if US lawmakers were to adopt a resolution seeking one.
"I am apologising here and now as the prime minister, and it is as stated in the Kono Statement," Abe told a parliamentary committee.
Kidnapping
"As I frequently say, I feel sympathy for the people who underwent hardships, and I apologise for the fact that they were placed in this situation at the time," Abe told the committee.
The prime minister's earlier comments denying official involvement in kidnapping women, mostly Asians, to work in the wartime brothels have angered Seoul and risked straining ties with Washington, where US Congressman Michael Honda has introduced a resolution calling for Japan to make an unambiguous apology for the suffering of the sex slaves.
No vote on the resolution, which Abe has criticised as full of errors, is expected until May, after Abe visits Washington for talks with US President George W. Bush.
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