WWII *** slaves: ‘They were paid’

[explorer]

Japanese conservatives on *** slaves: ‘They were paid’

INQUIRER.net, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
Last updated 07:30pm (Mla time) 07/13/2007

TOKYO -- (UPDATE) A group of Japanese lawmakers and conservatives on Friday protested US congressional demands for a clear apology over wartime ***ual slavery, saying the women were not slaves but just making money.

The group, which included 13 national lawmakers and more than 200 local politicians, intellectuals and journalists, gave the US embassy a protest letter saying they were "surprised and shocked" by the US pressure for a fresh apology to so-called "comfort women."

They denied ***ual slavery ever existed at front-line brothels during World War II, saying the women were generally paid.

"No *** slaves existed for Japanese military," they said in their protest letter. "This is the indisputable historical fact."

"It was a business," said movie director Satoru Mizushima. "They made money. They had savings."

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the nonbinding resolution by a 39-2 vote last month, urging Japan to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the suffering of "comfort women" during the 1930s and 1940s.

The endorsement allows the measure to be considered by the full House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to comment on the passage of the resolution, saying it was a matter for the US Congress.

But the group, which will also send members of the US Congress a copy of the protest letter, said the US resolution "is based on wrong information that is totally different from the historical fact."

They urged US lawmakers to reinvestigate and retract last month's resolution.

Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, China and the Philippines, were sent to Japanese military brothels in the 1930s and '40s. Many victims say they were forced to provide ***ual services against their will to Japanese soldiers.

Abe triggered controversy in March when he said there was no evidence that the women had been coerced into working as prostitutes, and he said Japan would not make a further apology in reaction to the US resolution.

Abe, facing international criticism, later said he stood by an earlier Japanese government apology, saying he sympathizes with the victims' plight and regrets the "situation they found themselves in."

After decades of denial, the Japanese government acknowledged its role in wartime *** slavery after a historian discovered documents showing government involvement. In 1993, the government issued a carefully worded official apology, but it was never approved by parliament.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Well, this is certain to rip open old wounds.

[Pong]

Uhmmm...sa mga lawmakers na ito, punta kayo dito. Ipa-rape din namin kayo sa mga brothers sa loob ng mga kulungan. Ako na bahala sa bayad niyo. Para naman di niyo masabi na di kayo binayaran sa sarap na natikman niyo!

[funkngruvn]

them lawmakers should die! :hang:

[Alpha_One]

More historical revisionism by insecure people who can't get over something that happened more than half a century ago.

[empy]

how many of these 200,000 women are still alive? if even a few of them are alive the argument that this is a free-will thing can be refuted in a matter of minutes.

if the argument, however, is that taking them from their homes, imprisoning them and raping them repeatedly is somehow ok because they were paid, then let's ask these 200+ lawmakers, journalists and intellectuals to bend over so that the Korean, Chinese and Filipino people can rape them with a broken Coke bottle....we'll stick a few million yen in their mouths after the act so it can't be a crime, right? business deal yun!!!