Lawyers urge Japan to atone for wartime sexual slavery

Sunday 12th December, 05:58 AM JST

TOKYO —

The Japanese and South Korean bar associations jointly called on the Japanese government Saturday to pass a law to pay reparations to Korean ‘‘comfort women’’ who were forced into wartime brothels for the Japanese military.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and the Korean Bar Association issued the appeal at a symposium they organized in Tokyo on the issue of Korean women victimized in the course of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

They also urged the government to acknowledge that the operations of the brothels at various countries constitute human rights abuses that impinge upon international laws and to issue an official apology to the victims as part of the envisioned law.

In addition, they called on the government to set up committees of investigation at both Diet and government levels to shed light on the full extent of the abuses.

At the symposium, an 81-year-old South Korean woman, who once worked as a sex slave, said in Japanese via video, ‘‘I am indignant as I was tortured, so I want (the Japanese government) to issue a clear-cut apology and pay financial reparations.’‘

‘‘This is my last word to the Japanese government,’’ she said.

South Korean lawyer Yang Jong Suk said, ‘‘Now that the Democratic Party of Japan, which had submitted repeatedly in the past to the Diet a bill with clear reference to the legal responsibility of the Japanese government, has become the governing party, it is in a position to enact laws realistically.’‘

Japanese lawyer Kunio Aitani said, ‘‘There is no longer any dispute between Japan and South Korea’’ over what direction remedial measures should take and what steps should be taken to solve the issue of wartime sexual slavery.

The two associations ‘‘would like to work to actualize these proposals to bring about a definitive solution’’ to the issue, he added.

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Latest 15 of 16 Total Comments Show All

vg866 at 08:59 AM JST - 12th December

So we now have the vast majority of Japanese lawyers siding with the comfort women on this issue. Which pretty much confirms what the rest of the worlds historians, scholars and human rights commissions think about the comfort women.

I wonder what Nigelboy has to say about this.
History at 09:00 AM JST - 12th December

Pay the Koreans (older generations) off with an appropriate apology.Why drag on the old war time debt. Begin with a new era otherwise the hatred spreads to the younger Korean generation. Scale the problem down to a family. A hooker knocked on your door that your elder brother did not pay for the service. Your brother offered no apology and not paying 'coz it was 'consensus' or as perk being a boss. Ask him to get the hell out of him.
Molenir at 09:17 AM JST - 12th December

"Phony indignation" about sexual slavery?!? How could one NOT be indignant about this travesty?

Indignation over something that happened more then 60 years ago? Most people who engaged in it are already dead, everyone who made the decisions for it is, and most of those who suffered from it are as well. There comes a point where you have to let things go.
sengoku38 at 09:34 AM JST - 12th December

Since I wasn't born until she was in her 60s, I never had sex with her. Let someone who did do the apologizing.
proudnippon at 09:51 AM JST - 12th December

There comes a point where you have to let things go.

so that's a counter for everything: holocaust, Jesus, slavery. it was a long time ago. forget about it. move on.
mindovermatter at 10:00 AM JST - 12th December

"Oh here we go again on this subject. Now all the J bashers will come out of the woodwork with their phony indignation."

Not quite... On the contrary... Here's where all, and I mean ALL the "Japan is a Victim of WW2" Wacko's come out from under their rocks, and out of their holes...

And when they are cornered with indisputable evidence, their argument, "Well America did it too...!"

Spoken like a true 8-year mother's boy...

hahahaha.....
gaijinfo at 10:28 AM JST - 12th December

By the time the Japanese government pulls it's collective head out of the sand and takes a good look around, they will be a very insignificant, small country with little exports and only known for a few tourists who want to come and go to Samurai Tea Ceremony Disneyland.

The time for apologizing, facing up to your mistakes and moving on has long gone.
amerijap at 10:55 AM JST - 12th December

Perhaps, they should make a documentary about the memories of comfort women regarding the political neglects and social injustices upon those being bullied by right-wingers and conservatives who are conducting an utterly de-meaning practice of anti-feminist rhetoric. It would be much better for the advocates to go to western countries and articulate for the public attitude toward these deniers’ practices—including NHK, the Supreme Court, and some LDP politicians-- rather than what Japan did in the past.
hokkaidoguy at 11:04 AM JST - 12th December

I'm sure that lawyers don't stand to gain from this at all.
sensei258 at 11:52 AM JST - 12th December

As with the "A bomb survivors", how will they prove their claims? If they really were used like this, then I am all for their cause. But, this is too big a chance for fraud to be committed by women who happen to be about the right age. "I am old, give me more money".
hottomales at 12:07 PM JST - 12th December

Can a son make a meaningful apology for his father's crimes? Of course not! Only the father can! Thus the Japanese government can make no meaningful apology. There are only two things they can do. One is to just properly acknowledge the crimes, and the Japanese government has mostly failed to do that. Next is to pay reparations to the victims, and the Japanese government has inherited that debt whether they like it or not. But its going to be very very hard to establish who are true victims and who are fakers. Pretty well impossible even.

Instead the Japanese government should buy back the worthless scrip these women and other slaves were given during the war.

And those who can prove they served in frontline brothels and faced other harsh conditions (and Japanese documents prove harsh conditions if not slavery) should be rewarded directly by the Japanese government, immediately. Then, after that, the Japanese government should petition certain foreign governments to get back the money paid to those governments that was never distributed to the women who was supposed to get it.
mikehuntez at 12:38 PM JST - 12th December

If this were the 1950s I'd be on their side. But being 65 years late I tend to dismiss this kind of BS of going after them so late in the game. Their time limit was up and they should be petitioning their own countries for the money.
mikehuntez at 12:39 PM JST - 12th December

These lawyers are just that. Money hounds out to make a buck if they can squeeze some money out of Japan and make some profit themselves. Leeches is all they are.
toguro at 12:52 PM JST - 12th December

mikehuntez wrote: "Oh here we go again on this subject. Now all the J bashers will come out of the woodwork with their phony indignation."

I guess the Holocaust didn't happen either, right? smh
oberst at 01:07 PM JST - 12th December

crime to humanity has no statute of limitation...........