Japan on way to heap more indignity on itself

Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun has been criticized by rival newspapers and some politicians since it retracted 16 articles on "comfort women" in August. The articles citied the testimony of veteran Japanese solider Seiji Yoshida, who said he had helped abduct about 200 women on Jeju Island (in then unified Korea) to serve in the brothels of Japan's Imperial Armed Forces during World War II.

The Asahi, saying Yoshida's testimony could not be confirmed, retracted the 16 articles published in the 1980s and 1990s. Conservative politicians and media outlets in Japan have lashed out at the newspaper for "demeaning Japan" abroad, saying there is no objective evidence to prove the Japanese army coerced "comfort women" into prostitution.

While reiterating not to challenge and replace former Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono's apology for the country's systematic use of "comfort women" - known as the Kono Statement - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration has repeatedly lambasted the Asahi and tried to absolve the Japanese army of the heinous crime.

Addressing the House of Representatives on Oct 3, Abe said the Asahi stories were a slander against Japan, and henceforth reports on the issue should be based on "facts". For Abe, the issue of "comfort women" is a fact, but Japan's imperial government and army didn't have anything to do with it.

Accordingly, Abe's administration is working hard to re-polish Japan's image and win it the respect of the world. To this end, it has sought partial retraction from Sri Lankan lawyer Radhika Coomaraswamy, author of the 1996 UN report on "comfort women" who were forcibly recruited to serve as "sex slaves" for the Imperial Japanese Army during the war. Its request was rejected by Coomaraswamy, who said Yoshida's memoirs formed only one part of the evidence used to compile the report.

The request can be seen as the first step in Japan's stepped-up public relations campaign. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will establish a special mission committee, headed by former foreign minister Hirofumi Nakasone, to find out why the "misconception" on "comfort women" has traveled so far and wide.

Indeed, Japan needs to get to the root of the issue. But is it ready to squarely face the truth?