politics

Abe, Park to seek early resolution of 'comfort women' dispute

45 Comments
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Ju-min Park

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45 Comments
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tinawatanabe: "I didn't say broke the summit, I said Park broke Japan-SK relation completely."

Wrong. Japan did that by refusing to acknowledge history. Plain and simple.

"Japan did none of which."

They did all of it, and there is plenty of factual evidence -- you just like to avert your gaze or claim it's not real when you see it, that's all.

"Just repeating a lie million times does not make it a fact"

Tell that to the Japanese politicians who say Nanking never happened, or other atrocities like the slaughter race to 100 with katana swords, or unit 731. How many times have you told yourself it's not real, tina?

"but Koreans seem to think so."

You see, that's the difference; you would say this to an actual South Korean woman who was raped, but she, who was there, would tell you, who were not, the truth and you would say she's lying but you know what happened.

So, who do we believe, tina; a woman who was there and the former IJA who admit to kidnapping and forcing into sexual slavery, or tinawatanabe who was fed white-washed history, written and approved by the descendants of war criminals?

Japan needs to apologize, on the record, for the atrocities it committed, and until it does THEY will be the ones to blame for breaking relations with neighbours, and ruining summits. Sorry, tina, but this is on Japan -- Park is merely bringing it to light again, where it needs to be despite you wanting to hide it.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Well then it wasn't Park that broke the summit, it was Japan.

I didn't say broke the summit, I said Park broke Japan-SK relation completely. It is a fact, nothing emotional about it. Look up stat of Japanese tourists to SK or trade/investiment.

So that makes Japan's kidnapping, rape, and murder of thousands upon thousands okay in your eyes?

Japan did none of which. If you can't provide evidence you shouldn't say that. If you have evidence go to Int'l court. Just repeating a lie million times does not make it a fact, but Koreans seem to think so.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

tinawatanabe: "Nobody in Japan expected anything from the summit."

Well then it wasn't Park that broke the summit, it was Japan. Why do you get so emotional about her anyway? I thought you said Japanese aren't emotional like other nations?

Novemchama: "Yet over the past several decades there has been no formal apology or reparations from the people and government of South Korea."

So that makes Japan's kidnapping, rape, and murder of thousands upon thousands okay in your eyes?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

toshiko, Japan Korea relation is completely broken thanks to President Park. Nobody in Japan expected anything from the summit.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@tinawatanabeNOV. 04, 2015 - 11:32PM JST You wrote she is selfish. How so? She is doing this for her stand not for the country. Her young sister also criticized her. Somebody above who claims to be Korean also said so. This issue has many details only Japanese or long time residents who read Japanese know.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Then write constant messages from Abe's assistants in both Kasumifaseki and Shimonoseki, Also Hofu and Ube. etc. that is in the Ken that likesbettervrelation with korean country.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

You wrote she is selfish. How so?

She is doing this for her stand not for the country. Her young sister also criticized her. Somebody above who claims to be Korean also said so.

This issue has many details only Japanese or long time residents who read Japanese know.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

PM who did not apologize ]]] Too many so I will write several names. Ikeda. yoshida, Kishi, Satoh, Kpizumi. Aso, Abe.

@tina: When did you meet Park? You wrote she is selfish. How so? If your opinion is based on K airline you could not get nuts, it was airline owner's daughter who was selfish, not Park.

Are you in a mission to sabotage Abe?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@igloobuyer

Former PM Hashimoto did just that. And why museum? Japan's comfort women were no different from other countries brothels.

Do not believe this just because it is what you WANT to believe. No other country has EVER had wartime brothels on the same level as Japan did (i.e. mass rape and torture across many countries). This is undisputed historical fact agreed by even Japanese scholars.

Right back at you! Do not believe this just because it is what you WANT to believe.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

tina: Let us not sabotage the effort of Abe.
1 ( +3 / -2 )

toshiko: SK's every President demanded apology and each Japan's PM gave them, The Emperor also. Park can go nowhere. She is selfish.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

tina: Not he, another PM apolgized. Pak want to go on new era and so is Abe.
-1 ( +2 / -3 )

toshiko: Ryutaro Hashimoto, LDP you don't know? He was the PM started consumption tax, which made him very unpopular and resign.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

There were no "SEX SLAVES". That term was created in the 1990s to enhance the victimization image.COMFORT WOMEN is not a euphemism for Sex Slaves. It is not even a euphemism, but an official title for MILITARY PROSTITUTES under the Imperial Japanese military system. They were employed and paid by the military, just like all other military prostitutes in other countries.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

tina: please reveal the full name of Former PM Hahimoto and when this person became PM of Japan. Which politicaj party he was affliated, too, write..
0 ( +2 / -2 )

Former PM Hashimoto did just that. And why museum? Japan's comfort women were no different from other countries brothels.

Do not believe this just because it is what you WANT to believe. No other country has EVER had wartime brothels on the same level as Japan did (i.e. mass rape and torture across many countries). This is undisputed historical fact agreed by even Japanese scholars.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Who pushed them?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Abe and Park were both pushed by the US to enter these talks for the fear of China's increasing activity in the region. The funny thing is how Abe and Park both try to pretend they are sticking to their original pledge while in fact they need to find a solution soon, they are told ;-)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan's comfort women were no different from other countries brothels.

Can you show evidence that other country's brothels also kept sex slaves? Because if you cannot, then your statement is wrong.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Prime Minister Abe should send a letter of apology to the surviving comfort woman and have it delivered to the South Korea embassy and then create a fund

Former PM Hashimoto did just that. And why museum? Japan's comfort women were no different from other countries brothels.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Toshiko, I agree with you.

Bertie Woozer - that's some article you just posted there. Wow. I recommend everyone have a read.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

People will not agree with me but I define those people Sex Slaves. I-An-Fu in Kanji is same as Massage Women. Sei Dorei is the right kanji.

1 ( +3 / -3 )

South Korea has to set an example first because it's sad but unfortunately true that during the Vietnam war thousands of Vietnamese women were raped and sexually assaulted by South Korean troops. Yet over the past several decades there has been no formal apology or reparations from the people and government of South Korea.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I hope he brouhgt hie wife together. She usually go with Abe paying her own expenses. She speak Korean ans she loves Korean TV programs. Unlike other Japanese wives, she does not have to keep eyes on his private life but she loves to accompany him without henpecking him. There were times when Korea and Japan exchanged warm diplomaric ties in history.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Here, "seek" is the operative word -- as long as they are seen to be "seeking" a resolution, they are OK. They know full well there ain't gonna be no resolution.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

You can talk the talk but you've got to walk the walk. So far they don't have a good track record. The proof will be in the pudding. Prime Minister Abe should send a letter of apology to the surviving comfort woman and have it delivered to the South Korea embassy and then create a fund which can be used to build museums etc. That should be sufficient. It will be uncomfortable and push Japan out of the comfort zone to accept full official responsibility. But that should result in making real progress.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I wouldn't be surprised if he, or his close buddies, would make a remark about how there was no such thing as sexual enslavement committed by Japan. "It's regrettable to what happened to those willing prostitutes, but they made their choices".

0 ( +2 / -2 )

WASHINGTON — In 1942, a lieutenant paymaster in Japan’s Imperial Navy named Yasuhiro Nakasone was stationed at Balikpapan on the island of Borneo, assigned to oversee the construction of an airfield. But he found that sexual misconduct, gambling and fighting were so prevalent among his men that the work was stalled.

Lieutenant Nakasone’s solution was to organize a military brothel, or “comfort station.” The young officer’s success in procuring four Indonesian women “mitigated the mood” of his troops so well that he was commended in a naval report.

Lieutenant Nakasone’s decision to provide comfort women to his troops was replicated by thousands of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy officers across the Indo-Pacific both before and during World War II, as a matter of policy. From Nauru to Vietnam, from Burma to Timor, women were treated as the first reward of conquest.

We know of Lieutenant Nakasone’s role in setting up a comfort station thanks to his 1978 memoir, “Commander of 3,000 Men at Age 23.” At that time, such accounts were relatively commonplace and uncontroversial — and no obstacle to a political career. From 1982 to 1987, Mr. Nakasone was the prime minister of Japan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/opinion/comfort-women-and-japans-war-on-truth.html?_r=0

1 ( +5 / -4 )

I think it's fair to say that Abe might spring for a little more money, but not a lot more money, and even if it were a lot more money, it wouldn't be enough to satisfy South Korea, which is really not interested in dropping the issue, ever, no matter what is done.

This falls apart though if the Japanese government directly gives the comfort women some rompensation. Right now, the Korean government has ammunition, since the comfort women have not received anything. If the government directly gave them money and an apology, it would be pretty hard for the Korean government to keep complaining.

As for the apology, there have been many apologies, and some of them were sincere.

True. It's unfortunate that so many have come after and undermined these apologies. It's also why the diet should make an official apology, and ratify it.

Therefore, there is no solution to this issue.

Sure there is. The government has never been willing to take the proper steps to do so though. Until they do, this problem will continue.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Quite a few new posters around I see.

Mr Abe can't have it both ways. He either properly accepts the Kono statement and stops this white-anting of it as he has done in the past, OR, he just flat out opposes it. I don't think he will be able to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the Koreans.

Which leads to my next point, namely, that without this political football to kick towards the Nationalists for votes when they need them, what would a self respecting South Korean Prime Minister do with themselves? Japan are not the only difficult party here, that's for sure.

I won't hold my breath.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Japan must eventually admit it's historical faults and atrocities to itself. Not that it is the only country in denial about its past!

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Ain't gonna happen. This was all polite talk for the cameras. Japan will never give in. And even if it does South Korean will still want a deeper bow of apolo.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Perhaps Abe's most important moment - don't screw this one up. Give an official government apology and give an official offering - not necessarily moment but a plaque in Tokyo or something would improve relationships dramatically overnight. Ball is in Japan's court.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I see no reason in the world why the two countries can't be friends, except that too many people are inclined to focus on the negative aspects of the relationship to the exclusion of the positive ones. C'mon, guys, let's break out the Sapporo Beer and Jinro and enjoy a congenial picnic, east Asian style!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

So what exactly does Mrs. Park want the Japanese to do?

Extend amakudari to Korean political incumbents.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

If I were Abe I would just apologize again and have future textbook document the atrocities of war which include the crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial Army. However, I firmly believe by showing the cruelty and abomination of war will lead the country to the right path of peace and harmony. However, after making these must needed changes I would ask both leaders of South Korea and China to cease the propaganda of Japan's past mistakes and look to the future for a stronger bond so that the world will not witness loss of humanity.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

@Strangerland

So what exactly does Mrs. Park want the Japanese to do?

Compensation and an official apology.

"Compensation" means money, right? And "official apology" means some words from the Japanese government that she would later claim were "not sincere enough", right?

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

So what exactly does Mrs. Park want the Japanese to do?

Compensation and an official apology.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

So what exactly does Mrs. Park want the Japanese to do?

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

knowing the political parties in both countries, i ain't holding my breath for a "resolution."

0 ( +2 / -2 )

PM Abe's remark that he wants to work with Park to chart out a new future between the two countries , is the most forward looking positive gesture coming out of their mutual deliberations in Seoul today which will lead to further boosting of the bilateral relations between the two countries.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Did Abe stay in a moderate price hotel and fly economy class, for the pre meeting? Did he enjoy the street food?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

A very strange handshake grip.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Increase the Peace!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

What a lovely picture!

5 ( +9 / -4 )

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