U.S. Strong-armed Japan into Comfort Woman Retraction
by Richardson ~ November 8th, 2007. Filed under: America, Diplomacy, Japan, Korean Politics.These tactics would be better used on South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun, generally, but I do agree in using them on one of our top allies in this specific case:
The United States warned Japan in March that Washington could no longer back Tokyo on the issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese unless then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reversed his contentious claim that there was no proof that the Imperial forces forced women and girls into sexual slavery during the war, sources revealed Thursday.
The warning, delivered by U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer to a senior government official, prompted Abe to change his stance and announce that he stands by Japan’s 1993 official statement of apology to the “comfort women,” as they are euphemistically known, the sources said.
[. . .]
Abe sparked an international outcry when he told a Diet committee on March 5 that there was no proof that the Japanese military was directly involved in forcing females across Asia into sexual servitude during the war.
Schieffer’s warning signaled that Japan-U.S. relations had reached a critical stage. Abe’s remark came while the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee was considering passing a resolution since the beginning of the year urging Japan’s prime minister to offer an official apology to the comfort women.
[. . .]
Japan is demanding that North Korea reopen or newly investigate 12 of the 17 abductees on Japan’s official list — all except the five who returned to Japan in 2002. North Korea, however, has repeatedly said that it considers the cases closed and that no other abductees remain alive.
Following Schieffer’s warning, Abe, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, then Foreign Minister Taro Aso and other senior administration officials discussed how the government should respond, the sources said.
Abe accepted Aso’s proposal to back away from his earlier remark, given the importance of Japan-U.S. relations, they said.
During telephone talks with President George W. Bush on April 3, Abe said Japan will keep its official position on the comfort women based on the 1993 statement.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Ah, the problem is that NK’s “past abductions” are a continuing crime that exists into the present day. There are no more comfort women anywhere, but there are still abductees. Nor is the issue about supporting the Japanese government - the issue is about recovering innocent people, individuals, that have been taken to North Korea against their will. Their human rights are separate to any position taken by the Japanese government as they are not proxies of the Japanese government. It does not matter what positions the Japanese government takes on comfort women, trade, Iraq, or any other issue. To say that the rights of these individuals are void because of disagreement on a historical matter is utterly immoral.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:52 am
That’s half the problem, actually.
I’d like to see exactly where that is said or implied in the post above.
To think that b/c an issue happened a few decades ago it has (or should have) no bearing on current politics ignores the reality of NE Asian politics. Wanting the issue not to matter does not change that it in fact does.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:55 am
I don’t think Matt is saying you did say that, but rather that is effectively what the US government is saying.
November 11th, 2007 at 4:53 am
[...] - Now here is a Halloween Party that beats going to the subway. - See here for how the comfort women and the Japanese abductee issue are linked. - Japan’s Sado Island [...]
November 11th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
[...] I wen to Google to look it up, and reading it leads me to understand the hostility towards Japan. DPRK Studies has an article about the controversy surrounding the comfort women described in this overview of [...]