ID :
77811
Tue, 09/01/2009 - 12:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/77811
The shortlink copeid
Amid power shift in Japan, N. Korea renews call for apology over sex slaves
(ATTN: MODIFIES lead, UPDATES with N.K. English language report, news dispatch on
Japan's election results)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korea demanded Monday that Japan break with its
past militarism and apologize for forcing hundreds of thousands of women into
sexual slavery during World War II, a call apparently aimed at Tokyo's new
government.
A day after the center-left opposition Democratic Party of Japan secured a
landslide win that ended half a century of domination by a single, conservative
party in Japan, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's main newspaper, carried a
commentary criticizing the country's "inglorious" past and its refusal to
officially apologize for it. The official Korean Central News Agency promptly
carried a report on the opposition's victory.
"If Japan wishes to earn international confidence, it should definitely bid
farewell to its inglorious past. This is the unanimous call of the international
community," said the paper, published by the Workers' Party.
Historians say more than 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea and other
neighboring Asian nations, were forced by the Japanese military to serve at
frontline brothels during World War II. Tokyo has acknowledged the existence of
these women, euphemistically called "comfort women," but denies any government
involvement, saying the victims were recruited by groups acting independently.
Over the past decades, both North and South Korea, along with the international
community, have repeatedly called for Japan to issue an apology. Japan had
colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945.
The North Korean paper noted recent forums in the United States in which people
called on Washington to submit a resolution to the United Nations to denounce the
sex slavery. A group of Chinese lawyers also sent a letter to about 20 Japanese
enterprises demanding compensations for Chinese citizens mobilized for forced
labor during the war, the paper said.
The "Japanese right-wing forces feigned ignorance, blustering such crimes 'never
happened' and they were 'fabrications,'" until a string of evidence proved
Japan's state involvement in the sexual slavery, it said.
Japan should emulate Germany, which "honestly settled their past crimes" with
apologies and compensations for victims of Nazi rule during World War II, the
paper added.
In Seoul, scores of the nearly 120 surviving South Korean "comfort women"
continue to stage protests outside the Japanese Embassy. They have been holding
them every Wednesday since 1992.
The legislatures of the United States, the European Union, the Netherlands and
Canada have all passed non-binding resolutions in recent years demanding that
Japan apologize to these women.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
Japan's election results)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korea demanded Monday that Japan break with its
past militarism and apologize for forcing hundreds of thousands of women into
sexual slavery during World War II, a call apparently aimed at Tokyo's new
government.
A day after the center-left opposition Democratic Party of Japan secured a
landslide win that ended half a century of domination by a single, conservative
party in Japan, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's main newspaper, carried a
commentary criticizing the country's "inglorious" past and its refusal to
officially apologize for it. The official Korean Central News Agency promptly
carried a report on the opposition's victory.
"If Japan wishes to earn international confidence, it should definitely bid
farewell to its inglorious past. This is the unanimous call of the international
community," said the paper, published by the Workers' Party.
Historians say more than 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea and other
neighboring Asian nations, were forced by the Japanese military to serve at
frontline brothels during World War II. Tokyo has acknowledged the existence of
these women, euphemistically called "comfort women," but denies any government
involvement, saying the victims were recruited by groups acting independently.
Over the past decades, both North and South Korea, along with the international
community, have repeatedly called for Japan to issue an apology. Japan had
colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945.
The North Korean paper noted recent forums in the United States in which people
called on Washington to submit a resolution to the United Nations to denounce the
sex slavery. A group of Chinese lawyers also sent a letter to about 20 Japanese
enterprises demanding compensations for Chinese citizens mobilized for forced
labor during the war, the paper said.
The "Japanese right-wing forces feigned ignorance, blustering such crimes 'never
happened' and they were 'fabrications,'" until a string of evidence proved
Japan's state involvement in the sexual slavery, it said.
Japan should emulate Germany, which "honestly settled their past crimes" with
apologies and compensations for victims of Nazi rule during World War II, the
paper added.
In Seoul, scores of the nearly 120 surviving South Korean "comfort women"
continue to stage protests outside the Japanese Embassy. They have been holding
them every Wednesday since 1992.
The legislatures of the United States, the European Union, the Netherlands and
Canada have all passed non-binding resolutions in recent years demanding that
Japan apologize to these women.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
