Japan PM may order new WW2 sex slaves study

Tokyo, Mar 8: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may order a new study of the government's role in forcing women to act as wartime sex slaves for soldiers, a media report said today, a step that could spark fresh outrage overseas.

Abe has already stirred anger in Asia with remarks that appeared to question the state's role in forcing women to work in the wartime brothels during World War Two, although he has also said a 1993 apology acknowledging coercion remained in effect.

The 1993 ''Kono Statement,'' named after then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono in whose name it was issued, admitted the Japanese military's role in setting up the brothels, and that many women were taken to and kept in them against their will.

Kyodo news agency, quoting ruling party and government sources, said Abe might order a new study of the sex slave history, possibly leading to a revision of the Kono Statement.

A group of 120 ruling LDP lawmakers who argue that the apology went too far in acknowledging coercion by the Japanese military was likely to propose a new study after a meeting today morning, a member of the group said earlier.

''I think that our request will be to ask the Japanese government to re-examine the historical evidence,'' ruling party lower house member Yasuhide Nakayama told Reuters yesterday.

''We recognise the existence of 'comfort women','' he said, using the Japanese euphemism for the women. ''But there was no historical data to prove that there was coercion.'' Nakayama said, however, that the group would probably not formally call for a revision of the Kono Statement.

Abe also said this week that he would not offer a new apology even if US lawmakers adopt a resolution calling for one.

Analysts say his recent comments were intended to bolster his core conservative support at a time when his popularity ratings have slumped and his party faces a July upper house election.

Abe, who wants to revise Japan's pacifist constitution and restore pride in the nation's history, has sought to distinguish between a ''broad'' notion of coercion which he has said may have occurred while rejecting that coercion in a ''narrow'' sense of direct kidnappings by military officers took place.

North and South Korea have expressed outrage over Abe's recent remarks, China has urged Japan to accept responsibility for its past, and Taiwan has called on Tokyo to apologise and compensate the women. US media have also taken up the topic.

''Abe took office trying to improve relations with China and South Korea, but he has now torpedoed them by pandering to the Japanese right wing's most disgusting tendencies toward historical revisionism,'' said a Los Angeles Times editorial.

''The incident sets back regional peace and security not to mention the national interests of the United States which lie in fostering far closer Asian cooperation to deal with issues such as North Korean nuclear disarmament,'' the paper added.

Abe softened his stance on wartime history after taking office last September, a shift generally seen as an effort to improved chilly ties with China and South Korea.

Reuters