Growing Chorus Slams War-Brothel Remarks
Friday, March 2, 2007; 2:51 PM
TOKYO -- Anyone who doubts that the Japanese army forced Asian women into sexual slavery in World War II should "face the truth," South Korea's foreign minister said Friday as outrage grew over comments by Japan's prime minister that there was no evidence of the enslavement.
Women's rights activists in the Philippines and a group of lawmakers in South Korea also denounced the remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday that there was no proof that so-called "comfort women" were forced into prostitution during the war.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raises his hand to speak during a budget committee meeting at Parliament in Tokyo, Friday, March 2, 2007. Historians say some 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and China, served in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Many victims say they were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops, and the top government spokesman acknowledged the wrongdoing in 1993. Abe on Thursday denied women were forced into military brothels across Asia, boosting renewed efforts by right-wing politicians to push for an official revision of the apology. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (Itsuo Inouye - AP) PHOTOS |
But one of the harshest comments came from 81-year-old Hilaria Bustamante of Manila, who said she was kept as a sex slave in a Japanese garrison for a year in 1942 as a 16-year-old.
"What he (Abe) said has angered me," she said. "They think we are just like toilet paper that they can throw away after being used."
Historians say some 200,000 women _ mostly from Korea and China _ served in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Witnesses, victims and even some former Japanese soldiers say many of the women were kidnapped or otherwise forced into brothels, where they could be raped by scores of soldiers a day.
Abe on Thursday said there is no proof the women were forced into prostitution: "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion."
His statement contradicted evidence in Japanese documents unearthed in 1992 that historians said showed military authorities had a direct role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for the brothels, known as "comfort stations." The remark also cast doubt on a 1993 Japanese government apology to the sex slaves.
Before a speech Friday in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told The Associated Press that Abe's comments were "not helpful."
"We had better face the truth," Song said in the South Korean government's first reaction to the nationalist prime minister's remarks.
Victims and their supporters have pushed unsuccessfully for a parliament-approved apology from Japan and official government compensation. Japan set up a private fund for compensation in 1995, but has refused to provide government money.
In China, Su Zhiliang, the director of the Chinese Comfort Women Research Center at Shanghai's Normal University, said she was surprised by Abe's remarks.
"Suddenly to have Abe deny the fact that women were coerced into sexual slavery is both very regrettable and very enraging," said Su, who has compiled 100 case studies with testimonials from Chinese comfort women since he began researching the issue in 1993.