President Ma Ying-jeou is calling on Japan to issue a “clear” apology to comfort women who were forced into sex slavery during WWII. Ma was speaking Tuesday with a youth delegation from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
In a speech last Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his support for past official apologies for the country’s imperial expansionism. Abe said Japan has expressed “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” for its actions during the war.
But Ma said while the Japanese Prime Minister mentioned invasion, colonial rule, deep remorse, and the suffering inflicted on women, more should be done in its review of wartime atrocities.
"It’s regrettable that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not issue a [clear] apology. The Republic of China government [in Taiwan] believes that Japan is willing to engage in soul-searching," said Ma. "But as a friend, we urge Japan to do more, and to do a better job," he said.
Ma said issuing an apology is key to Japan’s mending ties with its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. Ma also said the fact that comfort women were coerced into sex slavery during WWII was confirmed by an investigation conducted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1996.