Japan WWII statement scored by China, SKorea

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe failed to grasp the nettle when he delivered a much-touted address on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War.

Less than 24 hours after Abe’s much-anticipated comments on Tokyo’s past abuses, including during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Park suggested that the Japanese leader’s failure to offer a clear apology left a lot “to be desired”.

In a speech for Saturday’s war commemorations, Emperor Akihito said he felt “profound remorse” over a war Tokyo fought in the name of his father Hirohito. He also mentioned that Japan must not allow future generations to “be predestined to apologize”. “As the secretary-general has said previously, he hopes that based on reflection and understanding of history the countries concerned can achieve a genuine reconciliation and build peace and prosperity collectively in the region”. In this respect, his speech is reminiscent of the narrative provided by the Yushukan War Memorial Museum adjacent to the Yasukuni Shrine, which seeks to justify Japan’s role in the war.

The visits – on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender – came a day after Abe issued a new statement on the war, which China and South Korea said did not amount to a proper apology for Tokyo’s past aggression.

The statement was closely watched by Japan’s neighbours, especially South Korea and China, and it was unclear whether it would satisfy them.

He donated Shinto-style religious ornaments for the Yasukuni shrine, as he has done in the past since his last visit in December 2013, which triggered uproar from China and South Korea.

In fact, Mr. Abe recognizes this and asserted in his speech: “We Japanese, across generations, must squarely face the history of the past”. This is why Seoul needs to increase cooperation with the Japanese people who put peace and human rights ahead of national pride and regional hegemony, such as those who help former sex slaves and oppose nuclear energy, as well as the bill that enables Japan’s military resurgence.

The women are demanding an “unequivocal apology”, an acknowledgement of the war brothels policy and compensation from the Japanese government, she said.

Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told a seminar at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington that the statement had bucked earlier expectations and demonstrated Abe’s diplomatic intent to improve relations with Japan’s neighbors. As for sexual slavery during the war, then-chief cabinet secretary and later Prime Minister Yohei Kono stated in 1993 that the Japanese military was involved in mobilizing so-called comfort women which “severely injured the honor and dignity of many women…who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds”.

They ask how many times the nation should apologise for events they see as distant and unrelated to their modern lifestyles. I don’t want to witness anything like that again. It’s a hard truth Murayama knows far too well.

The prime minister is Japan’s representative.