Abe's apology not seen as full apology
TOKYO -- Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, apologised yesterday for Japan's use of wartime sex slaves but stopped short of acknowledging that they had been forced into it by the Japanese military.
Mr Abe said he echoed a 1993 statement of apology to the victims - known as comfort women - issued by the then chief cabinet secretary, Yohei Kono. The statement expressed the government's "sincere apologies and remorse" for its role in forcing an estimated 200,000 mainly Chinese and Korean women to work in military brothels in the 1930s and 40s.
"I am apologising here and now as the prime minister, as it is stated in the Kono statement," Mr Abe said. "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."
Campaigners said what was really needed was an official apology by parliament and compensation, and accused him of trying to placate both international opinion and conservatives in the Liberal Democratic party.
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Mr Abe said he echoed a 1993 statement of apology to the victims - known as comfort women - issued by the then chief cabinet secretary, Yohei Kono. The statement expressed the government's "sincere apologies and remorse" for its role in forcing an estimated 200,000 mainly Chinese and Korean women to work in military brothels in the 1930s and 40s.
"I am apologising here and now as the prime minister, as it is stated in the Kono statement," Mr Abe said. "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."
Campaigners said what was really needed was an official apology by parliament and compensation, and accused him of trying to placate both international opinion and conservatives in the Liberal Democratic party.