2007年03月25日の記事一覧 - 詳細表示

＜北「拉致」には証拠があるが、「性奴隷」には証拠なし＞

安倍晋三（首相）の二枚舌【ワシントンポスト紙】

ワシントンポスト紙・社説（3月24日付・電子版）は、６カ国協議の推移に触れて「安倍晋三（首相）の二枚舌」と題して、次のように批判しています。
同盟であるアメリカの報道が、この様に書き綴るのは、この問題が、すでに今までの様な対応では済まないと言う警鐘と考えるべきでしょう。

安倍首相は北朝鮮による「拉致」問題には熱心だが、それとは対照的に「性奴隷」の問題には、奇妙にも、また侮辱的にも、「日本のこれまでの態度を後退させている」と、同社説は述べている。

さらに、歴史的記録の上でも『性奴隷』の存在は、北朝鮮が日本人を拉致した証拠と同じく説得力をもつと指摘し、同社説は「安倍首相が拉致問題で国際的支援を求めるのなら、日本自らの犯罪責任を率直に認め…彼が名誉を傷つけた犠牲者たちにわびるべきである」と結論づけた。

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301640.html
Shinzo Abe's Double Talk
He's passionate about Japanese victims of North Korea -- and blind to Japan's own war crimes.
Saturday, March 24, 2007; Page A16

THE TOUGHEST player in the "six-party" talks on North Korea this week was not the Bush administration -- which was engaged in an unseemly scramble to deliver $25 million in bank funds demanded by the regime of Kim Jong Il -- but Japan. Tokyo is insisting that North Korea supply information about 17 Japanese citizens allegedly kidnapped by the North decades ago, refusing to discuss any improvement in relations until it receives answers. This single-note policy is portrayed as a matter of high moral principle by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has used Japan's victims -- including a girl said to have been abducted when she was 13 -- to rally his wilting domestic support.

Mr. Abe has a right to complain about Pyongyang's stonewalling. What's odd -- and offensive -- is his parallel campaign to roll back Japan's acceptance of responsibility for the abduction, rape and sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of women during World War II. Responding to a pending resolution in the U.S. Congress calling for an official apology, Mr. Abe has twice this month issued statements claiming there is no documentation proving that the Japanese military participated in abducting the women. A written statement endorsed by his cabinet last week weakened a 1993 government declaration that acknowledged Japan's brutal treatment of the so-called comfort women.

In fact the historical record on this issue is no less convincing than the evidence that North Korea kidnapped Japanese citizens, some of whom were used as teachers or translators. Historians say that up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other Asian countries were enslaved and that Japanese soldiers participated in abductions. Many survivors of the system have described their horrifying experiences, including three who recently testified to Congress. That the Japanese government has never fully accepted responsibility for their suffering or paid compensation is bad enough; that Mr. Abe would retreat from previous statements is a disgrace for a leader of a major democracy.

Mr. Abe may imagine that denying direct participation by the Japanese government in abductions may strengthen its moral authority in demanding answers from North Korea. It does the opposite. If Mr. Abe seeks international support in learning the fate of Japan's kidnapped citizens, he should straightforwardly accept responsibility for Japan's own crimes -- and apologize to the victims he has slandered.