Nancy Pelosi & Other House Representatives Visit Korea, Push Japan on Comfort Women Issue

Here is the latest on the comfort women front:

A congressional delegation led by U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi met with Korean leaders including President Park Geun-hye on Thursday in Seoul, where they discussed regional and bilateral issues, particularly the outstanding historical issues between Korea and Japan.

The bipartisan congressional delegation arrived in Korea for a two-day trip, part of its five-nation Asia tour. The 10-member team included Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel and Sander Levin and Republican Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick.

During their meeting at the Blue House, President Park explained to the delegation the urgency of resolving the issues concerning Korea’s “comfort women,” a term used for the women Japan coerced into sexual slavery during World War II.

Park pointed out that the victims are now elderly – some reaching 90 years old – and that the clock was ticking, a Blue House official said.

Pelosi replied that the issues needed to be resolved for the sake of women’s rights, the official said.

Tokyo’s refusal to officially apologize for forcibly recruiting thousands of young women, mostly Koreans, into military brothels during World War II has long been a key point of contention between Seoul and Tokyo. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link,but I wonder if these representatives know that the Japanese government has already apologized multiple times in regards to the comfort women issue.  Here for example is the apology that Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Kato made back in 1992:

The Government again would like to express its sincere apology and remorse to all those who have suffered indescribable hardship as so-called “wartime comfort women”, irrespective of their nationality or place of birth. With profound remorse and determination that such a mistake must never be repeated, Japan will maintain its stance as a pacifist nation and will endeavor to build up new future-oriented relations with the Republic of Korea and with other countries and regions in Asia.

As I listen to many people, I feel truly grieved for this issue. By listening to the opinions of people from various directions, I would like to consider sincerely in what way we can express our feelings to those who suffered such hardship.  [Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan]

I wonder if this Congressional delegation knows that Abe already apologized over the comfort women issue all the way back in 2007 as well in Newsweek magazine:

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday expressed regrets that his country’s military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II.

The remark, made in an interview with a weekly U.S. news magazine on the eve of his visit to the United States, may have been aimed at mending fences. The premier has been criticized by many countries for claiming there is no evidence that the Japanese military took any part in the forced recruitment of the so-called comfort women to serve its troops who invaded Asian countries.

“As Japan’s prime minister, I’m extremely sorry that they were made to endure such pain,” Abe told Newsweek. The Japanese leader reiterated that his government respected and stood by a statement by former Chief Cabinet Minister Yohei Kono in 1993 that apologized for the Japanese military’s involvement in the use of women as sexual slaves.

There is no argument from me that Prime Minister Abe and some of the people around him have made insensitive comments in the past in regards to the comfort women, but they have maintained all prior apologies made by the government of Japan.  Is the standard now that every Prime Minister in Japan has to apologize for World War II crimes when they take office?  Even when they take office for a second time like Abe has after already making a prior apology?  This is why the Japanese public I think has reached apology fatigue and support Abe on this issue.  .

If the people criticizing Japan really cared about women’s right they would instead be directing their outrage towards China which currently maintains a modern day comfort woman system using North Korean refugees who are coerced into becoming prostitutes.  Likewise if Abe was serious about resolving the comfort women issue he would make Japan into a champion of women’s rights by advocating for the North Korean refugees currently being used as a modern day comfort women.  Instead 10 years from now the same people will probably still be arguing over who needs to apologize for what while the modern day comfort women system continues.