Resolution on comfort women seen to pass US House

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives seeking an apology from Japan for the Japanese military’s use of sex slaves during World War II moved up to a markup meeting on June 26 and possibly a floor vote by early or mid-July. The markup meeting was held by the House International Relations Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) Resolution 121 was authored by Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. It accuses Tokyo of forcing some “200,000 ‘comfort women’ to serve in Japanese army brothels in China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan." The resolution further describes the sexual violence on these women as “one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century." Reacting to the resolution, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a statement March 5 to the Diet parliament, denied Japan’s involvement in forcing women into sexual servitude for the Japanese military. “There was no coercion, such as kidnappings, by the Japanese authorities…There is no reliable testimony that proves kidnapping," Abe said, adding that he would not issue an apology. The denial elicited protests from U.S. and Asian quarters, including an official statement from Philippine Acting Foreign Secretary Franklin Ebdalin, criticizing Abe’s denial as an attempt to change Japan’s stated admission of military engagement in organized sexual slavery by citing former Japanese prime minister Koizumi’s 2002 letter of apology to Filipino comfort women victims. Asian Pacific American advocacy groups rebutted the prime minister’s denial with a one-page ad in a Washington Post April issue titled “The Truth about Comfort Women," detailing testimonies from surviving former comfort women themselves. This was consequently answered with a Post one-page ad (June 14) titled “The Facts" that maintained Japan’s denial by citing Army memoranda that denied any official policy involving Japanese military in sex slavery or any “organized or forced recruitment", with assent from identified Diet parliament members. Emelina Galang, a Florida-based Filipino American university professor and author, rallied the Filipino American community to sign petitions to beef up congressional cosponsors. “This is not only a Korean women’s issue, as some or many may believe, but also a Filipino women’s issue of justice that our community and media have to support," she told Philippine News in a telephone call from her home in Miami. She personally went to Lantos’ district office in San Mateo and got his agreement to cosponsor the resolution. Jon Melegrito, communications director for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, confirmed that NaFFAA had signed a national letter initiated by Galang and NaFFAA’s Region 12 to get more cosponsors in order to pass the resolution. The Filipina Women’s Network, a two-year old West Coast organization headed by Marily Mondejar, had also devoted a year of networking to promote the issue. Annabel Park, a Virginia-based leader of the support121.org, an activist group, got a documentary on the comfort women’s cause on YouTube, optimistically told PN, “We are going to pass R.121, and then we’ll party. Hard!" Daniel Kohn, communications director at Honda’s office, was just as confident. “Congressman Honda is extremely optimistic that the resolution will be passed by the committee," he told PN. “He also firmly believes that when passed, the resolution will help strengthen U.S.-Japan relations…and that, as with all mature democracies, including Japan, they benefit when they face unsavory aspects of their past." He cited America, as an example, that had to do so when faced with the issue of the internment of Japanese Americans in World War Two. “It took a long time, but eventually the U.S. Government apologized [with then President Reagan issuing the apology], and that served to strengthen American democracy," he said. “Should the Japanese Prime Minister apologize officially on behalf of Japan for what the comfort women endured, the Japanese democracy, which is already very mature, would be further strengthened, and it would only be good for relations between Japan and the United States." - Philippine News