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         Korean Women Scrap Meeting Japanese Mayor over Brothel Remarks

   by Reuters

   Two elderly South Korean women forced to work in Japanese war-time
   military brothels cancelled a meeting on Friday with the mayor of the
   city of Osaka after he refused to withdraw remarks asserting the
   brothels were "necessary" at the time.
   The mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, an outspoken populist who has often
   stirred controversy, sparked a storm of criticism at home and abroad
   when he said last week that the military brothels had been needed, and
   Japan has been unfairly singled out for wartime practices common among
   other militaries.

   Victims of Japan's war-time aggression, including many people in China
   and South Korea, are sensitive to what they see as any attempt by
   Japanese politicians to excuse Japanese abuses before and during the
   war.

   Octogenarians Kim Bok-dong and Kil Won-ok said they had hoped their
   planned meeting with Hashimoto, who heads the small right-leaning Japan
   Restoration Party, would encourage him to change his mind but they had
   heard he planned to manipulate them by an "apology performance" in
   front of media.
   "Indescribably heart-wrenching reality and history of the victims
   cannot be traded with his apology performance and sweet talk," the
   women said in a statement provided by the Korean Council for the Women
   Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

   "We do not want to kill ourselves twice," they said. "If he truly feels
   sorry to us and regretful, he must take back his criminal comments and
   make a formal apology. He should hold himself responsible for his
   wrongdoing and retire from politics."

   Hashimoto also said there was no evidence the Japanese military
   directly abducted "comfort women", as they are euphemistically known in
   Japan, to work in the brothels before and during World War II.

   Historians estimate that as many as 200,000 women were forced into
   sexual slavery in the Imperial Japanese Army's brothels before and
   during the war.

   On Friday, Hashimoto, who trained as a lawyer, told reporters he had
   not meant to imply that he personally approved of the wartime brothel
   system and said he was sorry that the women's feelings had been hurt by
   the misunderstanding.

   But he declined to withdraw the remarks.

   "I believe at the moment there's nothing I should withdraw," he said
   during a news conference. "But I feel sorry if media coverage [of his
   remarks] hurt comfort women's feelings."

   CONTENTIOUS POINT

   Hashimoto also said that it was clear that the Japanese
   military ran the brothels, but it was necessary for scholars to study
   and clarify whether Japan's military and government were directly
   involved in abducting the women to work there.

   "Whether Japan as a state abducted Korean women and trafficked them.
   That's the most contentious point between Japan and South Korea. The
   Japanese government has not made this point clear," he said.

   "This should be debated rigorously among historians to make things
   clear and to restore relations between Japan and South Korea."

   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caused controversy during his first
   term in 2006-2007 by saying there was no proof that Japan's military
   had kidnapped women - mostly Asian and many Korean - to work in the
   brothels. Such sentiments are common among Japanese
   ultra-conservatives.

   But Abe has sought to distance himself from Hashimoto's
   remarks and his government has drawn back from early signals that it
   might revise a landmark 1993 government statement acknowledging
   military involvement in coercing the women, and apologizing to them.

   The issue has often frayed relations between Tokyo and
   Seoul.

   Japan said the matter of compensation for the women was
   settled under a 1965 treaty establishing diplomatic ties. In 1995,
   Japan set up a fund to make payments to the women from private
   contributions, but South Korea says that was not official and therefore
   insufficient.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/korean-women-scrap-meeting-japanese-m
   ayor-over-brothel-remarks/1667488.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/korean-women-scrap-meeting-japanese-mayor-over-brothel-remarks/1667488.html