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2012-08-30

Japan shows few signs of repenting of atrocities

Japanese leaders have recently shown few signs of repenting of the atrocities the country committed during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Moreover, Japan reiterated its claim to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in the East Sea.

It also remains unchanged in its position on the issue of “comfort women,” those who were forced to serve as sex slaves during World War II.

According to historians, up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese military brothels.

Korean politicians and civic groups said Japan has no qualification to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council as Tokyo has no sense of shame for what was done decades ago.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Sinjo Abe Tuesday denied Japan’s forced wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.

The Liberal Democratic Party, if it wins the next elections, will seek to overhaul statements on the comfort women issue, which were issued by former leaders, including Kiichi Miyajawa, Kono Yohei and Tomiichi Murayama, Abe said.

In 1993, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono apologized for the forced sex slavery. A statement issued by Kono said the Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in running "comfort stations," and that it coerced women into providing sexual services. One year earlier, Miyajawa issued a similar statement.

In 1995, then Prime Minister Murayama apologized in a statement for Japan’s occupation of Korea and the ensuing atrocities.

In a major change of Japanese attitude Monday, Jin Matsubara, chairman of Japan's National Public Safety Commission, called for a revision of the statement that apologized for wartime atrocities.

In a parliamentary session, he insisted that no direct descriptions have been found of Japan's forced mobilization of sex slaves.

As to Matsubara’s remarks, Cho Tae-young, a spokesman at Korea’s foreign ministry, said, "It is deeply disappointing that key figures of the Japanese government have made remarks denying the forced enslavement of Korean women."

The girl statue in front of Japanese Embassy in Korea looks like crying in the rain.

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