Controversy
Demands for an apology and compensation have been a recurring topic in Korean, Taiwanese, and Chinese politics. Western nations are also demanding long overdue actions from the Japanese government, most notably through the
United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 voted in 2007. Criticisms regarding the degree and formality of apology, issued as a statement or delivered person-to-person to the country addressed, and the perception by some that some apologies are later retracted or contradicted by statements or actions of Japan, among others.
In October 2006, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's apology was followed on the same day by a group of 80 Japanese lawmakers' visit to the
Yasukuni Shrine which enshrines more than 1,000 convicted war criminals.
[57] Two years after the apology, Shinzo Abe also denied that the Imperial Japanese military had forced comfort women into sexual slavery during World War II .
[58] In addition, Prime Minister Abe claimed that the Class A war criminals "are not war criminals under the laws of Japan".
[59] He also cast doubt on Murayama apology by saying, "The Abe Cabinet is not necessarily keeping to it" and by questioning the definition used in the apology by saying, "There is no definitive answer either in academia or in the international community on what constitutes aggression. Things that happen between countries appear different depending on which side you're looking from."
[60]
In 2010, one
comfort woman from Taiwan stated, "It's unacceptable that the Japanese government still refuses to apologize for what it did." Taiwanese President
Ma Ying-jeou also declared, "It is the responsibility of the Japanese government to admit its mistakes and apologize ... The battle is not over yet and it is regretful that the Japanese government still refuses to face its mistakes."
[61]
As of 2010, 24% of
South Koreans still believe that Japan has never apologized for its colonial rule, while another 58% believe Japan has not apologized sufficiently.
[62]
Some in the Japanese government have expressed exasperation at what level of apology is enough. During an impending visit in 1990 to Japan by South Korean president Roh Tae Woo Japanese cabinet secretary Ozawa Ichiro reportedly said, "it is because we have reflected on the past that we cooperate with [South] Korea economically. Is it really necessary to grovel on our hands and knees and prostrate ourselves any more than we already have?"[
citation needed]
In 2013, in the right-wing population of Japanese society has accused South Korea of hypocrisy, because Japan had apologized and provided compensation for the sexual slavery it perpetrated during World War II yet South Korea has failed to address the
Lai Đại Hàn, sexual slavery South Korea perpetrated during the
Vietnam War.
[63].
At the end of 2015, in response to the joint announcement by Japanese Foreign Minister
Fumio Kishida and South Korean Foreign Minister
Yun Byung-se to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the “comfort women” issue, some of the 46 remaining survivors expressed their discontent over the agreement. “It seems neither government cares about the victims. I don't count what they have agreed today. What we want is not monetary compensation but a legal one. We don’t want money. Those who commit crimes must take official, legal responsibility. I will fight until the day I die,” said survivor Lee Yong-soo. However, survivor Yu Hee-nam said, “I know the government has made efforts to resolve the issue within this year, so I’ll follow their decision.” But she also said the agreement was not satisfactory. "Money is not the issue. We've lived without human rights."
[64]
- ein Trauma ist kein Spaziergang!
