Japan Makes Reparations To Filipinos For Sexual Slavery
The first three women to accept compensation from a private Japanese fund for being forced into sexual slavery in World War II received letters of apology Wednesday from Japan’s prime minister.
In the letters, presented by Japan’s ambassador, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto expressed “most sincere apologies and remorse” to the women, who were forced to work in Japanese military-run brothels.
Each woman will later receive $18,600 from the private fund.
“This is the happiest moment of my life,” said Maria Rosa Henson, 68, the first Filipino woman to acknowledge publicly that she was forced into Japanese sexual slavery. “My impossible dream has became a reality.”
Wednesday’s ceremony came one day before the 51st anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the war. A fourth woman who also agreed to accept the money did not attend because she did not want publicity, a fund official said.
The ceremony represented a partial victory for the private fund, which has been criticized by many of the 300 surviving former sex slaves identified in South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, who are demanding official government compensation instead.
Critics say the fund, established by the government in response to demands from the former sex slaves for atonement, is an attempt by Japan to avoid taking full responsibility for its wartime actions.
Historians say about 200,000 Asian women were forced to work in military-run brothels for Japanese troops. Japan’s government denied any involvement with the brothels until several years ago.
It has continued to refuse to provide government money to the women, euphemistically called “comfort women” in Japan, insisting that all war-related claims were settled by postwar treaties.
“The Japanese government has done its best to express its remorse in the way it can,” said Ambassador Hiroyuki Yushita.
Three years ago, Japan’s chief government spokesman also apologized when the government first admitted official involvement in the brothels.