NPR: Japan Dismisses Call for Fresh Apology for Sex Slaves

Japan Dismisses Call for Fresh Apology for Sex Slaves

Japan has brushed off a resolution by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs that called on the country to issue a fresh apology for using sex slaves, known as comfort women, during World War II.

The BBC reports that the committee's resolution urged the Japanese government to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the coercion of young women into sexual slavery.

The sex slaves issue is increasingly becoming an obstacle in Japan's relationship with many countries in Asia and the West. In 1993, Japan did apologize for its treatment of women forced to be sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II. But a new, more conservative government shaded that apology, saying there weren't many women involved and there was no proof that the women were forced to become prostitutes. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later apologized for those remarks, but it did little to placate critics.

Historians believe hundreds of thousands of women were forced to work as sex slaves in military brothels during the war.

9:26 AM ET | 06-27-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

We are paying lawmakers to demand what other countries apologize for? At a time of a national debt reaching $9 trillion and contempt for the U.S. growing worldwide, someone can spend money on this and still sleep at night?

Sent by Russ Ward | 12:36 PM ET | 06-27-2007

It's interesting that the U.S. wants others to apologize for actions taken during World War II while avoiding any such apology for its own actions, namely the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sent by Megan Maxwell | 1:40 PM ET | 06-27-2007

Well, we COULD apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but then the implication is that it would have been better to invade the Japan, which at that time was not yet ready to concede defeat. Such an invasion would probably have killed far more Japanese civilians and soldiers than both the bombs together, not to mention our own soldiers. I'm not sure that the decision to drop those bombs equates to enslaving thousands of Filipino women as prostitutes, which was really only an alternative to Japanese soldiers staying more celebate. More equitable would be an apology for all the occuping US soldiers who raped Japanese women after the war was over, though of course there's still a difference in that the 'comfort women' were a matter official Imperial policy while the raping of Japanese women by American soldiers was not. But certainly it would be more of a fair trade in apologies. But I agree with Mr. Ward that all of this apologizing for the past stuff is more a waste of time and money than anything else. Would it make any real difference in any of our lives today? I doubt it.

Sent by John R. Otten | 2:34 PM ET | 06-27-2007

What most people fail to realize in this debate over the dropping of the atomic bombs, is that because of their use then, the world found out how terrible nuclear weapons are. And those two bombs were small compared to the nuclear weapons that were available in the coming years. Had the atomic bombs not been used in World War II, it would have been far easier for them to be used at a later time, when the weapons were more powerful and other nations also had them. The Cuban Missile Crisis could very well have resulte din a nuclear exchange and this would be a far different world today - if it even existed.

Sent by Ray Merriam | 1:57 PM ET | 06-28-2007

Calling something simply an "apology" is rather reductive. It is creating an ethical platform across allied countries in how we define human rights. It is perhaps difficult to understand unless you've been raped, 30 times a day, for years. This happened to hundreds of thousands of women who were mostly under 18. I think it is narrow to suggest that because we have a ballooning deficit and a reduced global social standing that taking steps towards developing social equality and human rights on an international level should stop.

Sent by john park | 4:58 AM ET | 07-15-2007

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