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Thursday, March 08, 2007 :
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Japan refuses to apologise for WW2 brothel scandal
JAPAN yesterday tried to calm an international furore over forcing Asian women to work in military brothels during World War II, saying the government stood by an earlier landmark apology.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe triggered a barrage of criticism throughout Asia by saying last week there was no proof the women were coerced into prostitution.
He said Japan would not apologise again for the so-called �comfort stations� for Japanese soldiers.
�The prime minister�s recent remarks are not meant to change this government�s position,� chief cabinet secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said, referring to a breakthrough 1993 apology made by then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono.
�The government continues to support the Kono statement.�
Historians say thousands of women � as many as 200,000 by some accounts and euphemistically known as �comfort women� � mostly from Korea, China and Japan worked in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and �40s.
Documentary evidence uncovered in 1992 showed the military had a direct role in running the brothels. Victims, witnesses and former soldiers have said women and girls were kidnapped to serve as prostitutes.
But prominent Japanese scholars and politicians routinely deny direct military involvement in rounding up the women, blaming private contractors for any abuses.
The US House of Representatives is considering a non-binding resolution demanding a formal acknowledgement and apology from the Japanese government for the brothels.
Shiozaki reiterated comments by Abe that the prime minister would not apologise again even if the measure was passed.
Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing denounced the use of sex slaves as �one of the serious crimes committed by Japanese militarists during the Second World War�.
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