Statement in Response to Prime Minister Abe's Message on the Eve of the 70th Anniversary of the End of WWII

Statement

Not surprisingly, Prime Minster Abe's statement upon the upcoming 70th anniversary of the end of World War II falls far short of delivering an unequivocal, unambiguous apology to the 200,000 "comfort women' who were taken against their will and forced into sexual slavery.

Prime Minister Abe's non-descript nod towards these atrocities was to simply say, in one sentence, that "we must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured' and is a direct affront to the women who suffered at the hands of Japanese soldiers.

How long must these women and the world wait for Japan to fully recognize its wartime past and deliver a true apology that could finally, at long last, lead to a road of justice and healing? Just as he did earlier this year when addressing a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress, Prime Minister Abe has once again shown that he does not have the courage to set the history books straight.

Yes, as he said, "History is harsh.' But the Prime Minister must go beyond such platitudes to set things right and ensure that future generations know what really happened to these women and girls. For, as the philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

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