The Asian reporter., June 16, 2014, Page Page 5, Image 5

ASIA / PACIFIC
June 16, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Ex-sex slaves demand
Japan PM acknowledge past
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Five former victims of
Japan’s wartime sex slavery and
their supporters have submitted
hundreds of official documents to the
government, demanding Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe acknowledge Japan’s past
atrocity and formally apologize.
Several support groups backing the
women, who are from Indonesia, the
Philippines, and South Korea, said the
documents collected from around the
world include clear evidence of coercion.
Japan apologized in 1993 over the
“comfort women” system of military
prostitutes before and during World War
II, but it insists there is no proof the
women were systematically coerced by
the government, citing the lack of official
Japanese documents stating so.
The cabinet in an Abe-led government
in 2007 underscored the lack of proof.
Abe recently promised Japan won’t
change its 1993 apology, but is re-
examining the study that was the basis
of the apology. Neighboring countries
have criticized Japan over its review,
particularly a re-examination of inter-
views with former Korean victims, as an
attempt to discredit the women and the
issue.
“That’s a lie. We have evidence. I’m a
living proof,” said Estelita Dy, an
84-year-old victim from the Philippines
who was kidnapped by Japanese soldiers
in 1943 when she was 12 years old. “I feel
outraged every time I hear people say we
were not forced into this. That’s why I
have to keep telling my story.”
She said she was happy to see the new
documents and the group’s demand to
Abe being submitted to the government.
Dozens of fellow victims in the
Philippines have died, she said, calling
for a quick resolution.
The support groups criticized the
government for looking the other way
since the 1993 apology and now trying to
discredit the content of studies under
previous governments more willing to
atone for Japan’s wartime actions. The
victims and their supporters demanded
Abe officially acknowledge Japan’s
wartime government and military
established and ran the brothel system,
and that the women were forced into the
system against their will. They also
demanded the Abe government disclose
all official records related to the issue,
conduct an additional investigation, and
promote education.
Historians say tens of thousands of
women from across Asia were forced to
T
RECORD-BREAKING EMBRACES. Nepalese stu-
dents hug trees during a mass tree hugging on World Envi-
ronment Day on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, on June
5, 2014. More than 2,000 people gathered in Nepal’s capital
in a bid to set a world record for the largest tree hug. (AP
Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Thousands in Nepal hug
trees in world record bid
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
ATHMANDU, Nepal — More than
2,000 people, mostly students wearing
school uniforms, gathered in Nepal’s
capital in a bid to set a world record for the
largest tree hug.
Parliament members, office workers, and
even Buddhist monks also took part in the
attempt, joining the students at a park on the
outskirts of Kathmandu. The participants said
they were trying to set the record to celebrate
World Environment Day by spreading
awareness about the importance of trees.
“Our goal is to set a new world record and at
the same time spread the message that trees are
important for the environment and everyone,”
said Thaneswor Guragai, who coordinated the
event.
The previous Guinness World Record for most
people hugging trees simultaneously was 936
people in Portland, Oregon last July.
Participants held trees for two minutes as
volunteers beat drums at the National Martyrs
and Peace Park, on the northeast edge of
Kathmandu.
“We are gathered here in our attempt to save
the forests and make people aware that trees
and forests are important for human
civilization,” said Rajan K.C., who was among
the 20 parliament members hugging the trees
and monitoring the event.
One of the participating students, ninth-
grader Ganga Pandit, said she had planted
samplings in the past but felt it was important to
join the campaign to save existing trees.
The organizers of the event are sending
photos, video, a signed statement from the
parliament members who were there, and the
names of the participants to Guinness, which
will decide whether to recognize the feat as a
new record.
Guragai said it would take about two months
to get a recognition certificate from Guinness.
K
OFFICIAL APOLOGY SOUGHT. Supporter Yang Chingja, second left, hands to a government offi-
cial part of hundreds of pages of documents that experts say contain proof of coercion in the military-led
“comfort women” sex slavery system during World War II, as former South Korean victims, Kim Bok-dong,
88, bottom left, and Lee Yong-soo, 85, center on wheelchair, and Indonesian victim Mince, 86, far back
center wearing a white knit cap next to Yang, look on in front of the Cabinet Office in Tokyo. The group de-
manded Prime Minister Shinzo Abe face Japan’s wartime atrocity and formally apologize. Historians who
helped compile the 529 pieces of official records, collected from in and outside Japan, show clear evidence
of coercion by the Japanese military and government in recruiting and running the system. (AP Photo/Mari
Yamaguchi)
Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a Chuo University
provide sex to Japanese soldiers at
frontline brothels. Japanese nationalists historian and a respected expert in the
insist the women were voluntary topic, said the 529 documents he and
other historians have compiled since
prostitutes, not sex slaves.
In 1995, Japan set up a private fund 1993 contain proof the Japanese military
that provided 2 million yen ($20,000) and the government were directly
each to about 280 women in the involved in setting up and recruiting the
Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea, girls and women from around Asia, often
and funded nursing homes and medical by deception and kidnapping.
More than one-third of the documents
assistance for Indonesian and former
Dutch sex slaves. In South Korea, more came from Japanese Defense Ministry
than 200 women came forward and were archives. Dozens were obtained from for-
recognized as eligible recipients, but eign militaries and governments, includ-
only a fraction accepted the money due to ing the U.S., China, and Taiwan, and the
criticism of the private fund instead of Netherlands — a former colonizer of In-
donesia. A document recently discovered
official compensation.
Yang Chingja, a leader of Japanese in a Justice Ministry archive showed a
supporters, said Abe’s government has cover-up by a military police official
tried to trivialize the issue as a bilateral using the military budget, Yoshimi said.
He said the women were clearly
dispute between Japan and South
Korea, instead of a universal problem of forcibly taken away and placed under
slave-like conditions at the brothels.
sexual abuse of women.
q
George Takei sees gay pride beginning in Japan
Continued from page 2
“African Americans, women, people
with disabilities, and gay men and
lesbians have reminded all Americans
that we are each entitled to the same
rights, liberties, responsibilities, and
opportunities,” Kennedy said in an
opening speech. “Those struggle[s] to
transform our society, here tonight we
celebrate the countless acts of courage
and commitment and reaffirm that
LGBT rights are human rights.”
Akie Abe, who this year became the
first Japanese first lady to participate in
a LGBT march, said she did so because
she supports the cause of creating a
society that tolerates more diversity.
She said she became a supporter of
LGBT rights through her work against
AIDS.
“There is no difference to importance
of love from sexual orientation. There
should not be any discrimination
because [of] who you love,” she said. “I
am going to raise my voice. If my
raised voice could contribute to the
pride of LGBT people, there is no greater
joy.”
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