Japan’s policies prior to 2007 and the impact on these policies of the initiative in the Diet to revise the Kono Statement and Prime Minister’s Abe’s statements since March 1, 2007.
House of Representatives Resolutions
The historical issue of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” before and during World War II has become an issue of contention between the Japanese government and Diet (parliament) and the U.S. House of Representatives. The issue has received growing attention from the media in Japan, the United States, and several other countries. The issue of the comfort women has gained increased attention since the early 1990s. The current issue of contention between the Japanese government and the House of Representatives stems from two resolutions introduced into the House of Representatives in 2006 and 2007 and the Japanese reactions to them.
H.Res.759. The first resolution, H.Res.759, was passed by the House International Relations Committee on September 13, 2006. The full House of Representatives did not vote on it before the House adjourned in November 2006. The main provisions of H.Res. 759 were:
—Expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that “the Government of Japan should formally acknowledge and accept responsibility for its sexual enslavement of young women, known to the world as ‘comfort women’” during the 1930s and World War II.
—The Government of Japan “organized the subjugation and kidnapping” of comfort women for the purpose of “sexual servitude.”
—“Comfort women were either abducted from their homes or lured into sexual servitude under false pretenses.”
—The Japanese government’s comfort women system resulted in the infliction of “numerous…crimes against humanity” against comfort women.
—Historians conclude that as many as 200,000 women “were enslaved.”
—There have been efforts in Japan, supported by government officials to minimize and remove accounts of the comfort women system from Japanese school history textbooks.
—The Japanese government should educate current and future generations about “this horrible crime against humanity” and should publicly refute claims that the subjugation and enslavement of comfort women never occurred.
—The Japanese government should follow the recommendations of the United Nations and Amnesty International with respect to the comfort women.
H.Res.121. The second resolution, H.Res.121, was introduced on January 31, 2007, and is currently being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As of March 31, 2007, it had 75 sponsors in the House of Representatives. Its major provisions are:
2
