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Fresh controversy over comfort women
Military brothels 'a fact of wartime', says new NHK chief
TOKYO - Japan should not be singled out for criticism over the use of military brothels during World War II, the new chairman of Japan's influential public broadcaster NHK was quoted as saying in remarks likely to spark widespread anger.
The comments by Mr Katsuto Momii, 70, who has just taken over as chairman of NHK, are also likely to become an additional diplomatic headache for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Mr Abe is already faced with deteriorating ties due largely to territorial disputes with China and South Korea, two nations that suffered from Japanese aggression before and during the war.
The issue of "comfort women", as those forced to work in the wartime brothels are euphemistically known in Japan, is a flashpoint in Japan's relationship with Asian nations, especially South Korea. Many of the 200,000 Asian women forced to work in the brothels were Korean.
China and South Korea have yet to comment on Mr Momii's remarks. But the Global Times, Beijing's mouthpiece, yesterday accused him of making "false statements".
"Japan's refusal to face up to history and shoulder responsibility for its atrocities has deeply hurt the feelings of people from the victim states," it added.
Asked about the issue at a news conference on Saturday, Mr Momii said such things happened in every nation at war during that time, including France and Germany.
"The issue of 'comfort women' s bad by today's morals," Mr Momii - believed to be Mr Abe's favoured candidate for leading NHK - was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun. "But this was a fact of those times.
"Korea's statements that Japan is the only nation that forced this are puzzling. Give us money, compensate us, they say, but since all of this was resolved by the Japan-Korea peace treaty, why are they reviving this issue? It's strange," he said.
Japan says the matter of compensation was closed under the 1965 treaty that normalised diplomatic ties between the two sides.
Mr Momii said he was only his personal opinion but, when reporters noted that he was speaking as a public figure, Mr Momii then said he retracted his remarks, the Asahi reported.
He also said it was "only natural" for NHK to take the Japanese government's position in international broadcasts on things such as territorial disputes with China over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea.
"International broadcasting is different from domestic," he was quoted as saying. "If the government says 'left' we can't say 'right'."
Japanese politicians have repeatedly drawn fire for their remarks over the military brothels.
Mr Toru Hashimoto, the populist co-leader of a small right-wing party, sparked a storm at home and abroad last year when he said such brothels had been "necessary" at the time and Japan had been unfairly singled out for practices common among other militaries during wartime.
Mr Momii's comments have already sparked an angry response within the government, the Asahi said, quoting an unidentified Cabinet minister as saying the remarks were unacceptable from the head of national media and that Mr Momii should resign.
Mr Momii, who was vice-president of trading house Mitsui & Co, is set to serve as NHK chairman for three years. He denied that his appointment was in connection with Mr Abe.
Analysts said NHK's reputation could well take a hit.
"His comments that NHK should be hewing the government line on foreign policy matters demonstrate how out of touch he is with media norms and values," said Professor Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan Campus.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Military brothels 'a fact of wartime', says new NHK chief
TOKYO - Japan should not be singled out for criticism over the use of military brothels during World War II, the new chairman of Japan's influential public broadcaster NHK was quoted as saying in remarks likely to spark widespread anger.
The comments by Mr Katsuto Momii, 70, who has just taken over as chairman of NHK, are also likely to become an additional diplomatic headache for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Mr Abe is already faced with deteriorating ties due largely to territorial disputes with China and South Korea, two nations that suffered from Japanese aggression before and during the war.
The issue of "comfort women", as those forced to work in the wartime brothels are euphemistically known in Japan, is a flashpoint in Japan's relationship with Asian nations, especially South Korea. Many of the 200,000 Asian women forced to work in the brothels were Korean.
China and South Korea have yet to comment on Mr Momii's remarks. But the Global Times, Beijing's mouthpiece, yesterday accused him of making "false statements".
"Japan's refusal to face up to history and shoulder responsibility for its atrocities has deeply hurt the feelings of people from the victim states," it added.
Asked about the issue at a news conference on Saturday, Mr Momii said such things happened in every nation at war during that time, including France and Germany.
"The issue of 'comfort women' s bad by today's morals," Mr Momii - believed to be Mr Abe's favoured candidate for leading NHK - was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun. "But this was a fact of those times.
"Korea's statements that Japan is the only nation that forced this are puzzling. Give us money, compensate us, they say, but since all of this was resolved by the Japan-Korea peace treaty, why are they reviving this issue? It's strange," he said.
Japan says the matter of compensation was closed under the 1965 treaty that normalised diplomatic ties between the two sides.
Mr Momii said he was only his personal opinion but, when reporters noted that he was speaking as a public figure, Mr Momii then said he retracted his remarks, the Asahi reported.
He also said it was "only natural" for NHK to take the Japanese government's position in international broadcasts on things such as territorial disputes with China over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea.
"International broadcasting is different from domestic," he was quoted as saying. "If the government says 'left' we can't say 'right'."
Japanese politicians have repeatedly drawn fire for their remarks over the military brothels.
Mr Toru Hashimoto, the populist co-leader of a small right-wing party, sparked a storm at home and abroad last year when he said such brothels had been "necessary" at the time and Japan had been unfairly singled out for practices common among other militaries during wartime.
Mr Momii's comments have already sparked an angry response within the government, the Asahi said, quoting an unidentified Cabinet minister as saying the remarks were unacceptable from the head of national media and that Mr Momii should resign.
Mr Momii, who was vice-president of trading house Mitsui & Co, is set to serve as NHK chairman for three years. He denied that his appointment was in connection with Mr Abe.
Analysts said NHK's reputation could well take a hit.
"His comments that NHK should be hewing the government line on foreign policy matters demonstrate how out of touch he is with media norms and values," said Professor Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan Campus.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
