Former South Korean comfort women, who said they were forced to become sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War Two, chant anti-Japan slogans at a protest in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul March 14, 2007.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    TOKYO, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese Cabinet on Friday approved a position paper which said there was no direct evidence that Japan's military authorities or government officials were involved in forcing women into sex slavery during World War II, Kyodo News reported.

    But the position paper, which was issued in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker, also said that the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has no plan to revise the Kono statement, which apologized to women forced to work in Japanese military brothels.

    The paper said that the Kono statement was not endorsed by the then cabinet of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, but the successive Japanese cabinets have inherited it as the government's stance on the sex slavery issue.

    On March 1, Abe said that "there is no evidence to prove there was coercion" exercised over the "comfort women" forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers in military brothels during World War II. His remarks immediately drew international criticism.

    On March 5, Abe reiterated that Japan would abide by the Kono statement. And six days later, he made an unfeigned apology to "comfort women" in an appearance on national television.

    An estimated 200,000 women worked in brothels for Japanese forces during World War II. Most of the women came from countries invaded by Japan at the time.

    In 1993, the then Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued the so-called Kono statement, officially acknowledging and apologizing for the fact that Japan forced women from other Asian countries to be sex slaves for its troops in the 1930s and 1940s.

Former South Korean comfort women, who were forced to become sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War II, chant anti-Japanese slogans at a protest in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul March 7, 2007. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, seeking to bolster support within his conservative base, has stirred anger in China and South Korea by appearing to question the state's role in forcing women to be sex slaves for its soldiers during World War Two.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

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Abe apologizes for wartime sex slavery

    TOKYO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday expressed unfeigned apology to "comfort women" who were forced by Japan's then military government into sex slavery during World War II.

    In a TV program of NHK earlier in the day, Abe also reiterated that his government will not change the policy of honoring the Kono statement.

Abe reiterates honoring of 1993 apology for wartime sex slavery

    TOKYO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated on Wednesday that his government will continue to honor a 1993 apology for wartime sex slavery.

    At a press conference where the prime minister was asked about what in Japan are known as "comfort women" - the Asian woman forced to work in brothels for the Japanese army during World War II - he complained that his recent remarks on the matter had not been reported correctly, Kyodo News said on Thursday. 

DPRK lambastes Abe's remarks on WWII sex slavery

    PYONGYANG, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of denying Japan's wartime forced sex slavery, urging it to atone for the crimes it committed.

    "They are historical facts that Japan can neither sidestep nor deny," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying. 

ROK condemns Japan's denial of forcing Asian women into sex slavery

Former South Korean comfort women, who said they were forced to become sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War Two, chant anti-Japan slogans at a protest in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul March 14, 2007.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SEOUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government on Saturday expressed "strong regret" over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's latest denial that the Japanese military had forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II.

Abe says no new apology for "comfort women"

    TOKYO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that Japan would not offer any new apology over the wartime sex slavery issue.

    "We will not apologize even if there's a resolution," Abe was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency in response to an opposition lawmaker's question in the upper house budget committee, referring to U.S. efforts to seek Japan's apology for forcing about 200,000 women from invaded countries to provide sex services to its army in World War II.