Japan's top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda on Monday
played down the education minister's recent remarks praising the
removal of references to "comfort women" from the revised history
textbooks and reiterated Tokyo's apology to the
victims.??
"Comfort women" is a euphemism used in Japan to describe women
forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in Japan's
aggression war against its Asian neighbors before and during World
War II.
"We recognize that the issue of so-called 'comfort women' is a
problem that tarnished the honor and dignity of many women, and
have expressed an apology and remorse for that," Hosoda said at a
news conference.
"The problem is not the words but their existence. 'Comfort
women' did exist, and the government's position does not change,"
Hosoda said.
Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Minister Nariaki Nakayama said in a public address Saturday that
there were originally no such words as "comfort women," so it was
good that the "incorrect" description was removed from school
textbooks.
Nakayam's remarks have been strongly criticized and protested by
South Korea, China and many other Asian countries from which many
women were forced to serve as "comfort women" for Japanese
aggression army during the war.
(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2005)