Tokyo has apologized repeatedly: Japanese media

Kyodo News - The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution Tuesday demanding an apology from Japan over the sexual exploitation of young women in the Asia-Pacific region by the Japanese military during World War II.

The nonbinding resolution was approved by 39-2. Rep. Michael Honda, a California Democrat of Japanese descent, and some Republicans submitted in January the resolution about the women, known euphemistically in Japan as "comfort women."

"What they said today in their vote was that, yes, there were victims, there were women who were used as sex slaves, yes, there was a systematic military program that captured, coerced women and girls to be used as sex slaves," Honda told reporters after the passage of the resolution.

"It is time that the Japanese government approach and acknowledge, take full responsibility and apologize in an unambiguous, formal way," he said.

The passage comes despite Tokyo's claim that Japanese prime ministers have repeatedly offered apologies over the issue. Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato has warned that the passage of what he says is a factually unfounded resolution would harm otherwise sound Japan-U.S. relations.

Now that the committee has voted in favor of the resolution, attention has shifted to whether it will be put to a vote on the full floor of the House, with Honda being upbeat on the resolution's passage through the full chamber soon.

"This resolution will go to the floor as a whole, and it'll probably be done the second or third week of July, hopefully," he told reporters, adding that given the 39-2 vote, the resolution "will have a good chance of being passed."

The resolution drew about 140 co-sponsors from both Democratic and Republican parties, which urges the Japanese prime minister to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the sexual mistreatment of the former comfort women.

"It is a resolution that seeks admission of a horrible truth in order that this horror may never be perpetrated again," said Tom Lantos, chairman of the committee.
Its passage followed deliberations on proposed changes in wording to somewhat soften the demand for an apology and also added a line to note the importance of Japan-U.S. relations. The changes were proposed by Lantos and ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Similar resolutions have been submitted to Congress four times. The last resolution won committee-level approval last September, but a full vote by the lower chamber was blocked by the then majority Republican Party.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has previously offered an apology for the suffering endured by the women. He has also repeated that he stands by a 1993 official statement acknowledging and apologizing over the matter.

Abe came under fire earlier this year when appeared to doubt the Japanese military's coercion in connection with the women for the brothels for its soldiers.

During his visit to the United States in April, Abe expressed regret about misunderstandings over his remarks and reiterated that he feels sorry for the women who suffered.

The U.S. State Department took a noncommittal stance on the comfort women resolution, with spokesman Tom Casey saying merely that it is "up to our Congress. They're a separate branch of government, and they'll look at things as they see fit."

"In terms of U.S. policy on this, look, the president spoke to this issue when the prime minister was here and as far as the administration's concerned I think he's made our policy views clear on that," he told reporters.

During Abe's visit, President George W. Bush said the comfort women issue "is a regrettable chapter in the history of the world and I accept the prime minister's apology."