Tokyo: Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday he would express “remorse” over World War II this month, as a government panel condemned the country’s past aggression against its Asian neighbours. Abe is preparing his closely watched remarks for the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, the date Japan surrendered to the Allies.
The wording of Abe’s statement will be scrutinised by China and Korea, which dispute Tokyo’s version of its wartime history.
“I will express remorse over the past war, our post-war path as a pacifist nation, and how Japan should further contribute to the Asia-Pacific region and the world in the future,” Abe said. Abe has repeatedly talked of the need for what he calls a “forward-looking attitude” that concentrates on the positive role Japan has played in Asia since its surrender in 1945.
Abe’s comments yesterday, on the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, came the same day as an advisory panel on wording of the war statement condemned Japan’s colonial past. Japan colonised the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, the panel pointed out citing aggression in China from 1931. China says over 20 million of its citizens died as a result of Japan’s invasion.
Japan “caused much harm to various countries, largely in Asia, through a reckless war,” the 38-page report said.
“The responsibilities of the Japanese government and military leaders from the 1930s and beyond are very serious. It is inaccurate to say that Japan fought to liberate Asia,” it said, calling for “reconciliation” with China and Korea. Addressing a joint session of the US Congress in April, Abe expressed his “deep remorse” over Japan’s actions during World War II. But he stopped short of a full apology demanded by Beijing and Seoul, especially over the forced recruitment of so-called “comfort women” to serve Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
A landmark 1995 statement by then premier Tomiichi Murayama stated his feelings of “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology”.
AFP
