アメリカでアメリカ合衆国下院121号決議（慰安婦決議）が採択される5か月前（07年）の韓国のハンギョレ新聞（英字版）。
- 安倍首相は＝日本軍が外国人の女性を性奴隷制に強制したことを否定した。
- 読売新聞は＝軍が組織的に慰安婦候補者を探した証拠はないと主張した。
- 河野談話は＝日本軍当局が「慰安所」の設置に関わっていたことを認めた。
- ニューヨーク・タイムズは＝日本政府は事実を歪曲することで名誉を失うとピシャリ。
- U.Sデイリーは＝日本は一度認めた（河野談話？）犯罪を否定しようとしている。
- 朝日新聞は＝首相に誤解を招く発言は慎むべきだと苦言を呈した。
Conservative press backs Abe’s denial of sex slavery
Meanwhile, NY Times slams Japanese government’s ‘contortion of truth’
Amid the controversy surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s denial that the Japanese military forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II, Japan’s conservative newspapers such as the Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun have supported Abe’s stance as of March 7.
In connection with a nonbinding resolution introduced early February to the U.S. House of Representatives that would urge Tokyo to apologize for the so-called comfort women issue, the Yomiuri Shimbun claimed that there was no documentary evidence found by the Japanese government to prove the Japanese military systematically searched for potential comfort women. Regarding a 1993 statement by then chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono, containing an official apology and acknowledging the involvement of Japanese military authorities in the establishment of "comfort stations," the newspaper said that it was natural for lawmakers from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to demand a correction of the Kono statement. The Sankei Shimbun agreed, saying, "To recover the honor of Japan, what is needed is the courage to truthfully talk about the matter of the comfort women with time and patience."
A New York Times editorial on March 6, however, slammed the Japanese government, saying that "Japan is only dishonored by such efforts to contort the truth." In relation to remarks by Abe that he had no intention to apologize even if U.S. lawmakers pass the resolution, the U.S. daily suggested that the Japanese government is now trying to reduce the crime to which it once admitted. The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun also urged Abe to watch his words and not make remarks which could cause unnecessary misunderstanding.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun on March 7, conservatives from the LDP cancelled a plan to demand Abe to "correct" the Kono statement. The newspaper reported that Abe’s aides persuaded these lawmakers to abandon their efforts, citing the potential negative political effects of such a campaign.
ハンギョレ2007.3.8
