On eve of visit by the U.S. president, Abe’s record is recounted
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, is led by a Shinto priest as he visits the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2013. He was the first prime minister to do so in seven years. [REUTERS/NEWS1]
Last Dec.26 Abe paid respects at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which enshrines Class-A war criminals among its war dead, as it is viewed as a symbol of Japan’s militarism and denial of its colonial brutalities.
While he was serving as prime minister for one year from 2006 to 2007, he provoked international outrage when he made remarks as “There is no evidence to probe there was coercion of women in to sexual slavery.” After international criticism, his government issued an apology later the same month.
On March 14, Abe for the first time he will uphold the 1993 Kono Statement acknowledging and apologizing for the forced recruitment of women as sex slaves by Japanese military. Yoon Mee-hyang, co-head of Korean Council for the Women Drafted for military Sexual Slavery by Japan said the recent Japanese actions are more as a gesture to the U.S. ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit, rather than actually wanting a resolution to the issue.”
Japan expert Nam Sang-gu, a senior researcher at Northeast Asian History Foundation, a state-run research institute said the Japanese government needs to acknowledge its forced mobilization of women into sexual slavery “as a national crime” and offer official reparations to make the apology non-retractable.
Nam said he anticipated that Abe in his 70th anniversary statement on Aug 15. 2015, will follow Koizumi’s lead and may leave out the phrase “through its colonial rule and aggression,” which he has been hesitant to use in the past.
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