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United for Justice

The Korean Association of Korean War Veterans and others hold signs during a protest in front of the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles on April 17. Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP

By David K. Song and wire reports

Chanting “Apologize, don’t militarize,” and “Report, don’t distort,” some 200 Asian activists protesting outside Japan’s consulate in Los Angeles, called on the Japanese government to compensate women used as World War II sex slaves.

Historians say as many as 200,000 women — mostly Koreans, but also Filipino, Chinese and Dutch — were forced to provide sex for Japanese troops during the war. A Japanese appeals court last month overturned a 1998 ruling ordering the government to compensate the women, saying no serious constitutional violations had occurred. Then, a recent court ruling absolved the government from financial responsibility.

Protesters from the Young Koreans United of Los Angeles joined the noisy demonstration outside Japan’s consulate on April 17.

“The recent court decision is a brutal slap in the face to the ‘comfort women,’” Young Koreans’ spokeswoman Haena Cho said.

Screaming and waving hand-painted signs, protesters also denounced a middle school textbook, recently authorized by the Japanese government, which they believe glosses over Japanese war crimes.

Critics say the book is a whitewash of atrocities committed by Japan during its 1910-45 rule of the Korean Peninsula. Seoul recalled its Japanese envoy April 10 in protest and demonstrations have been triggered in Asia.

In a statement delivered by organizer Martha Matsuoka of the Okinawa Peace Network, the approval of the textbook “shows that the Japanese government is increasingly favoring nationalist and pro-military interests who ignore, distort and revise important histories of women, children and victims of militarism.”

Another issue brought up by the protesters concerned political movements within Japan to revise their postwar pacifist constitution and rearm the nation. Annalisa Enril of GABRIELA Network, a Filipina women’s group, said the approval of the textbook was further evidence that indicated growing interest in re-militarizing Japan.

In response to protesters, Japan’s consulate released a copy of an April 3 statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, which said the government, acted impartially when it authorized the book, New History and Civics Textbook. Fukuda also pointed to a 1995 statement by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama as proof the country has acknowledged and apologized for damage and suffering caused in the past.

Protesters delivered a letter addressed to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori demanding Japan fully disclose its war crimes and make reparations to victims.

Japanese consulate officials Yasushi Fujii and Toshihisa Ono refused to comment and declined to meet protesters. They assured representatives the letter would be sent immediately to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.

Few were surprised by the response of the consulate officials. One of the organizers of the rally, Inbo Sim of the Korean Resource Center, expressed his disappointment. Sim pointed out the silence reflects the current political mood in Japan to look the other way on issues of wartime crimes and remilitarization.

Cho, who met with consulate officials, was also disappointed, but she cited the rally’s success in bringing a diverse set of ethnic groups together.

Said Cho: “Usually, groups tend to work within their own community for international causes, and the turnout here shows that this issue has crossed national and ethnic borders.”