UM Asian Bishops Refute Japan's Denials

[National Federation of Asian American United Methodists]

Oakland -- Sept. 11, 2007

Asian American United Methodists are criticizing recent denials by the prime minister of Japan regarding that country's coercion of "comfort women" during World War II.

"Your denial places you in the category of those who deny the Holocaust against six million Jews," wrote Bishop Roy Sano, executive secretary of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, in a letter to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Three women -- two Koreans and a former Dutch colonist -- testified March 1 before the U.S. House of Representatives foreign affairs subcommittee about how they were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. About 200,000 women are thought to have been enslaved as "comfort women" during that period. In 1993, the Japanese government admitted its military had established brothels for its troops during the war.

Speaking on March 5 in Japan's parliament, Abe blamed any coercion of women into the brothels on congractors used by Japan's military, not the military itself, according to the New York Times. He said Japan would not comply if the U.S. Congress issues a demand for an apology. Such a resolution, which blames Japanese authorities for the coercion, is now under consideration, the newspaper reported.

Sano wrote Abe that he joins with those "who demand you renounce your statement and apologize for your indefensible denial of the atrocities inflicted on 200.000 women from various parts of Asia...Your remarks destabilize the region and even jeopardize Japanese tourists who go abroad."

UM Bishop Robert Hoshibata (Portland Area) said it is "incomprehensible that a world leader has a stand that contradicts accepted fact."