Japan’s apology for WWII Filipino ‘comfort women’ criticized by victims

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Japan reiterated its apologies for the suffering inflicted on Filipino “comfort women” during World War II. More than 1,000 women were kidnapped and coerced to sexual slavery by military personnel during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945. Today, only 18 survivors remain alive. Kaneko Mariko, deputy press secretary at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that Japan has long apologized and considered reparations resolved through the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.

• Lila Pilipina “deplores” apology: However, Lila Pilipina, an organization founded in 1994 by survivors comfort women and its supporters, denounced the recent statementarguing that Japan’s claim distorts historical facts to gain Philippine support and justify the recent subscription of the Reciprocal Access Agreement between Japan and the Philippines. This military pact allows for the deployment of respective forces on each other’s territory with the aim of addressing security concerns in the South China Sea, particularly in response to China’s aggressive actions in the region. Lila Pilipina highlights that postwar reparations mainly favored Japan, leaving individual victims largely uncompensated. They are urging the Philippine Senate to reject the deal.

• The statement: “The Japanese government never genuinely apologized to the Filipino ‘Comfort Women’ and other rape victims during the war. Private letters of apology sent by Japanese state leaders in the 1990s lacked the weight of a full, official apology. The creation of an Asian Women’s Fund in the wake of these letters also does not indicate genuine remorse, since the funds were actually donations from private citizens and were in no way reparations for the harm caused by the Imperial Japanese government, that he should take full responsibility for these crimes.”

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