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When sex slavery is watered down
January 14, 2005
A Japanese ruling party leader admitted on Wednesday to pressurising a public
television network to tone down a program that featured a mock trial held by a
women's rights group on sex slavery in military brothels during World War II.
The"trial", held in Tokyo in December 2000, found the late Emperor Hirohito
guilty of allowing the slavery of so-called "comfort women" during Japan's
occupations of Asian nations.
Public-financed Japan Broadcasting Corp., known by its Japanese initials NHK,
broadcast a special program on the trial in January 2001 but left out large
portions of interviews it had conducted with critics of Japan's wartime
conduct.
Shinzo Abe, who is now acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic
Party, admitted he pressured NHK to make the changes.
Abe said that in the mock trial "there were judges and prosecutors but no
witnesses for the defence counsel, showing that the contents (of the trial)
were clearly biased".
"I pointed out that NHK should broadcast from a fair and neutral standpoint
which is expected of it," he said in a statement after his tactics were
reported by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, asked if Abe had violated NHK's guaranteed
independence, said: "I don't think so."
"The press should not be one-sided. You should see to it that you report in a
fair manner," Koizumi said.
All in the family
Abe (50) was a member of the government serving as deputy chief cabinet
secretary at the time the program was aired.
Known for his tough stance toward North Korea and widely seen as future prime
minister material, Abe is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, a post-war prime
minister who served in cabinet during World War II.
Women's group sues television network
Historians say at least 200 000 young women, mostly Korean but also from
Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia, were forced to serve in frontline
Japanese army brothels during the war.
Survivors and activists have demanded Japan apologise and provide compensation
to former sex slaves.
The women's group which ran the mock trial, called Violence Against Women in
War, filed a lawsuit against NHK and two production companies over the
alterations in the original broadcast.
The Tokyo District Court ordered one of the two companies last March to pay
¥1-million ($9500) in compensation. Both the women's group and the
production company have appealed the case in the Tokyo High Court.
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