The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation staged a protest in front of Japan’s representative office in Taipei on Thursday to mark Global "Comfort Women" Memorial Day.
"Comfort Women" is a euphemistic term for women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. A number of comfort women came from Taiwan, then a Japanese colony.
Executive director of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, Kang Shu-hua, said that the group is upset about statements from Japan’s right-wing which distort historical facts. Kang also said that the group was angered by a Japanese government report issued in June. The report concluded that there is no way to determine if the Japanese military forced comfort women into sexual slavery.
The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation is demanding that the Japanese government publically admit its mistake, issue an apology, and give compensation to surviving comfort women. It is also demanding that Japan stop distorting history and to include comfort women in history textbooks.
The group is calling on Taiwan’s government to take concrete action on the issue of comfort women.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao responded Thursday, saying that Taiwan’s government has always supported and assisted surviving Taiwanese comfort women. She said that Taiwan continues to call on Japan to give surviving comfort women the dignity and respect they deserve.