[影印]安倍晉三又玩拉選票﹖

Outrage over Japan's sex slave denial

Mar 02, 2007 10:32 AM
Carl Freire
Associated Press
TOKYO — Women’s rights activists in the Philippines and lawmakers in South Korea on Friday denounced comments by Japan’s nationalist prime minister that there was no evidence Japanese soldiers forced women into sexual slavery during World War II.
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.

“We will not allow them to deny it just like that,” said Rechilda Extremadura, executive director of Lila Pilipina, an organization of activists and former Filipino wartime sex slaves. ``For us, good or bad, it is your history. If you are a responsible government, you are responsible enough to accept, acknowledge and be accountable.’’

Prime Minister Shinzo 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 in Japan as “comfort stations.” The remark also cast doubt on a 1993 Japanese government apology to the sex slaves.

Witnesses, victims and even some former Japanese soldiers say many of the women were kidnapped or otherwise forced into sexual slavery at the brothels, where they could be raped by scores of soldiers a day.

Philippines Rep. Liza Maza of the left-wing Gabriela women’s party said Abe’s statement was “an affront to all women victims of Japanese military sexual slavery” during the war.

Extremadura said 120 are still alive among 174 documented Filipino “comfort women.’’

“Our women here, the grandmothers, said that they were forced, that they were coerced into rendering sexual servitude inside the garrisons, inside the ’comfort stations,’” Extremadura said. ``Now, let the Japanese government prove that they went there willingly ... so that they can be labeled as prostitutes. That is where this is heading.’’

Hilaria Bustamante, an 81-year-old member of Lila Pilipina, said she was a sex slave in a Japanese garrison for more than a year.

She said she was heading home in 1942 after scavenging for rice when three Japanese soldiers stopped her on the road and seized her by the arms and legs and threw her into a truck “like a pig.’’

“Even as I struggled, I could not do anything. They slapped me, they punched me. I was only 16 then, what could I do?” she said. ``They think we are like toilet paper that is just thrown after being used.’’

Lee Yong-soo, 78, a South Korean who was interviewed during a recent trip to Tokyo, said she was 14 when Japanese soldiers took her from her home in 1944 to work as a sex slave in Taiwan.

“The Japanese government must not run from its responsibilities,” said Lee, who has long campaigned for Japanese compensation. “I want them to apologize. To admit that they took me away, when I was a little girl, to be a sex slave. To admit that history.’’

A group of South Korean lawmakers on Friday called on the Japanese government to apologize.

“Japanese Prime Minister Abe should retract his outrageous remarks denying the women were forced into sex slavery and immediately apologize,” some 50 lawmakers said in a statement.

In China, Su Zhiliang, the director of the Chinese Comfort Women Research Center at Shanghai’s Normal University, said she was ``very 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 research on the issue in 1993.

Victims and their supporters have pushed unsuccessfully for a parliament-approved apology from Japan and official government compensation. Tokyo set up a private fund for compensation in 1995, but has refused to provide government money.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, on a visit to Tokyo, declined to comment directly on Abe’s statement.

“Our view is that what happened during the war was most deplorable,” he said when asked about the sex slave issue. “But ... as far as some kind of resolution of this issue, this is something that must be dealt with between Japan and the countries that were affected.’’

The United States has avoided public involvement in historical disputes between Japan and its neighbors, though it has expressed concern that such conflicts could affect other issues, such as cooperation on efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Last month, however, the House of Representatives held hearings on a resolution calling for Japan to fully acknowledge and apologize for the sexual abuse.

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美國會打自己隻狗麼﹖