which is true, and most of the women probably never were nd theyre jsut trying to get free money
Friday August 26, 9:12 PM
Koizumi says Japan has no legal responsibility over 'comfort women'
(Kyodo) _ Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday the Japanese government has no legal responsibility toward the so-called "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.
"Our position is different from the South Korean government," Koizumi told reporters at the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which he heads.
Koizumi's remark is in response to South Korea, which said the same day that the Japanese government is obligated to take legal responsibility for crimes committed during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Before and during World War II, Japan sent many women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula then under Japanese control, to frontline brothels for Japanese soldiers. They are euphemistically called comfort women in Japan.
Foreign Ministry Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi rejected South Korea's claim and reiterated the stance of the Japanese government, which has maintained that the issue of compensation has been fully settled by the 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties between Japan and South Korea.
"We have fully and ultimately resolved the issue between Japan and South Korea over the right to claim (for prewar and wartime compensation) in signing the treaty to normalize diplomatic relations," Taniguchi said at a news conference.
On individual cases of compensation, Taniguchi said, "We are making efforts from a humanitarian standpoint" to address such cases, citing the Asian Women's Fund, which gave 2 million yen each to former comfort women.
The fund, which is different from official compensation for wartime damages, was established in 1995, 50 years after the war ended, in line with a decision by the Japanese government to offer a "gesture of atonement" on behalf of the Japanese people to the comfort women.
The South Korean position was announced Friday with the disclosure of diplomatic documents that were exchanged with Japan in the lead-up to the two nations' normalization of ties four decades ago.
"The Japanese government has legal responsibility for inhumane illegal activities committed by the state power such as the government and the military, including comfort women," said a statement issued at the end of a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Hae Chan.
The statement said the issue of compensation for victims of Japan's inhumane illegal acts has not been put to rest by the Seoul-Tokyo talks.
South Korea would continue to intensify diplomatic efforts to settle the issues of Japan's inhumane illegal acts committed during the colonial rule.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050826/kyodo/d8c7hafo0.html