TOKYO, Jan 27:Japan’s top Government spokesman today defended the new head of public broadcaster NHK for his remarks that the use of women as military prostitutes was common worldwide during World War II.
NHK chairman Katsuto Momii told a news conference Saturday marking his appointment that “comfort women” existed in any country at war, not just Japan. He also criticised South Korea for dredging up a compensation issue that had been settled by a bilateral peace treaty.
His remarks have raised concerns about a possible right-leaning shift by the country’s public broadcaster, which has reportedly faced criticism from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nationalist government for having programs that were too liberal.
Momii’s comments drew an angry response from South Korean officials and former victims. The country’s ruling and opposition parties demanded an apology from Japan and Momii’s resignation. Kang Il-chul, 87, who said she was abducted by Japanese soldiers and forced into sex slavery at 15, called his comments “absurd.”
Abe is thought to be pushing a more nationalist agenda since taking office in December 2012, and NHK’s recent appointments were seen reflecting his ideological bias.
The Government oversees NHK’s public service content, and its chairman is picked by parliament-approved advisers. One of them, a best-selling author reportedly favoured by Abe, is known for his remarks defending Japan’s wartime actions.
Under national security guidelines adopted by Japan’s Cabinet last month, Abe wants to raise the country’s defence posture and play a greater role in international peacekeeping.
And his visit to the Yasukumi war shrine last month and his World War I analogy last week comparing Japan-China tension with that of Britain and Germany a century ago were seen as signs of his belligerence.
The military brothel system was “common in any country at war,” Momii said Saturday. “The comfort women system is considered wrong under today’s moral values. But the military comfort women system existed as a reality at that time.”
“Putting my chairman’s title aside, the issue becomes complicated because South Korea criticises as if Japan was the only one that forcibly drafted women into the system,” Momii said.
“And (South Korea) demands money, compensation. Why do they dredge up something, the issue that had been already settled by a bilateral treaty? It’s wrong.”
Momii, 70, previously served as a vice chairman of Mitsui, a large trading house.
At a news conference today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga defended Momii’s remarks as his personal views.
Suga said that Abe, in line with his predecessors, has expressed sympathy to Asian women forced to provide sexual services for Japanese soldiers and “there is nothing more to add to that.” (AGENCIES)
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