Senior Japanese official denies coercive recruitment of women into sex slavery during...

Another denial of documented history by a Japanese official is threatening to derail
a landmark agreement between Korea and Japan... on Tokyo's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean
women and girls.
The latest controversial remarks come amid chilled Seoul-Tokyo relations over the recent
installation of a statue in Korea's port city of Busan.
Kim Mok-yeon has more.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has once again denied his country's sexual
enslavement of women during World War II.
When asked about a recent CNN report on the so-called "comfort women" issue,.. Suga said
the Japanese government has found no evidence that the authorities at that time abused the
women.
The latest statement by such a high-ranking Japanese official is expected to deal another
blow to Japan's already strained ties with Korea, as it runs counter to Tokyo's acceptance
of responsibility in a landmark agreement reached with Seoul in late 2015.
In the 1993 Kono Statement,... Japan also admitted its direct and indirect involvement
in the coercive recruitment of women into sex slavery during the war.
Nearly a month has passed since Japan recalled its ambassador to Seoul and its Consul General
in Busan in protest over a statue in Busan dedicated to the victims of wartime sexual
slavery.
The Korean government has announced that it will refer to the statue as "Sonyeosang" which
means "statue dedicated to women and girls" to show respect to the young girls sexually
abused during the war, as opposed to Japan's announcement that it will call it the "comfort
women statue".
The row over their shared history is expected to rumble on as reports say Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered the diplomats to stay in their home country until the Korean
government removes the statue.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.

Senior Japanese official denies coercive recruitment of women into sex slavery during...

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