Comfort women resolution to reach House floor

Despite concern that U.S.-Japan relations could be harmed, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution calling on Japan to acknowledge and apologize formally for sexually enslaving women during World War II.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday said she wanted to see the House pass the resolution. Doing so would send a “strong message that we will not forget the horrors endured by the comfort women,” Pelosi said in a statement. “They have waited far too long, but it is not too late to recognize their courage.”

{mosads}GOP presidential hopefuls Ron Paul (Texas) and Tom Tancredo (Colo.) were the only members of the committee to vote against the resolution, expressing concern that it could be counterproductive and unfair to the people of Japan.

The committee vote marks a victory for the Korean-American community, which mounted a months-long campaign to see the resolution passed.

“Today, with the passing of the [resolution], the survivors will be able to restore their dignity and let this victory … give these women the courage to regain their human rights,” the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said in a statement.

During its occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands between the 1930s and World War II, Japan used as many as 200,000 young women from Korea, China, the Philippines and in some cases Western Europe for sexual servitude in a program designed to increase the efficiency and morale of Japanese soldiers. The women were subjected to beatings, sexual violence and torture.

The Japanese Embassy and its hired Washington representation has been trying to convince Congress not to take up the resolution, sponsored by Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), insisting that Japan already has apologized to the comfort women.

According to material provided by the Japanese Embassy, the Japanese government has extended official apologies on several occasions. One came in 1994 from then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama during the 50-year commemoration of the war’s end.

Outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sent personal letters to former comfort women to convey Japan’s remorse, according to the embassy.

The Asian Women’s Fund was established in 1995 to raise awareness and prevent such abuses, but supporters of the House resolution note that the fund is private. Tokyo argues that the fund was established with cooperation from the government and the Japanese people, and that the government contributed funds for the organization’s operating costs as well as its medical welfare support projects.

According to the Congressional Research Service, South Korea adopted national legislation to prevent Korean former comfort women from accepting payments offered by the Asian Women’s Fund.

The resolution’s effect on the relationship between Japan and the United States was taken into consideration by panel members.
 
Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) offered an amendment to the bill stating that the U.S.-Japan alliance is a cornerstone of U.S. security interests in Asia and the Pacific and is fundamental to “regional stability and prosperity.”

The amendment also states that if the prime minister of Japan were to make a public apology it would help to resolve recurring “questions about the sincerity and status of prior statements.” This language may further aggravate the situation, according to a source close to the matter.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe alarmed many in the international community in March with comments viewed as denying the Japanese military’s direct role in forcing women to work in brothels throughout Asia. The Japanese government said Abe’s comments had been misunderstood and that he stands by an apology made by the government in 1993.

Before his visit to Washington in April, Abe raised the issue with President Bush, saying that he empathized with the victims. He also met with a joint session of Congress, where he raised the issue and said Japan had made official apologies to the comfort women. The Japanese Embassy quoted Abe as saying: “My heart goes out in sympathy to all those who suffered extreme hardships as comfort women; and I expressed my apologies for the fact that they were forced to endure such extreme and harsh conditions.”

Japan’s case in trying to convince lawmakers not to take up the resolution was hampered by a recent Washington Post ad paid for by a group of politicians and academics saying that there was no proof that women were forced into sexual enslavement. The group published the ad despite opposition from others in the Japanese government and the Japanese Embassy in Washington. The embassy stressed during the past couple of weeks that the Japanese government had nothing to do with the ad.

The group is not part of the Japanese political mainstream, according to a source close to Japan. The politicians, considered a fringe mix of ultra-nationalists and ultra-conservatives, want to see the resolution passed to “drive a wedge between Japan and the United States — they think that Japan has been too friendly and compliant with the U.S,” the source said.

The White House also has been concerned that the resolution could harm the U.S.-Japan relationship. To offset these concerns, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) offered an amendment to mitigate some of the criticism toward the Japanese government. The amendment, which recognizes the strong ties between the U.S. and Japan and commends Japan for its efforts in the war on terror, was withdrawn from the resolution and will be considered separately at a later markup.  
    
The House may take up the comfort women resolution by mid-July.

Patrick Fitzgerald contributed to this report.