[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 357 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 357

Expressing the sense of Congress concerning the war crimes committed by 
               the Japanese military during World War II.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2000

Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Bonior, Mr. 
Bilbray, Mr. Green of Texas, Mrs. Fowler, Mr. Underwood, Mr. Campbell, 
   Ms. Norton, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Royce, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
    Lofgren, Mr. Lampson, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, and Ms. Eshoo) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress concerning the war crimes committed by 
               the Japanese military during World War II.

Whereas during World War II the Government of Japan deliberately ignored and 
        flagrantly violated the Geneva and Hague Conventions and committed 
        atrocious crimes against humanity;
Whereas 33,587 members of the United States Armed Forces and 13,966 United 
        States civilians were captured by the Japanese military in the Pacific 
        Theater during World War II, confined in brutal prison camps, and 
        subjected to severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic 
        necessities;
Whereas many of the United States military and civilian prisoners of the 
        Japanese military during World War II were subjected to forced labor, 
        starved and beaten to death, or summarily executed by beheading, firing 
        squads, or immolation;
Whereas almost all of the United States military and civilian prisoners who were 
        rescued from the Japanese military at the end of World War II were 
        afflicted with diseases caused by malnutrition and deprivation and have 
        suffered from life-long illnesses, psychological and emotional trauma, 
        and financial hardships as a result of their experience during the war;
Whereas, of the United States prisoners held by the German military during World 
        War II, 1.1 percent of the military prisoners and 3.5 percent of the 
        civilian prisoners died during their imprisonment, but of the United 
        States prisoners held by the Japanese military, 37.3 percent of the 
        military prisoners and 11 percent of the civilian prisoners died during 
        their imprisonment;
Whereas on December 8, 1941, the Japanese military bombed and invaded the island 
        of Guam and occupied the island until the liberation of Guam by the 
        United States Armed Forces on July 21, 1944;
Whereas the people of Guam were subjected to death, beheadings, rape and other 
        violent acts, forced labor and marches, and imprisonment by the Japanese 
        military during the occupation of Guam during World War II;
Whereas at the Japanese biochemical warfare detachment in Mukden, Manchuria, 
        commanded by Dr. Shiro Ishii, experiments were conducted on living 
        prisoners of war that included infecting prisoners with deadly toxins, 
        including plague, anthrax, typhoid, and cholera;
Whereas at least 260 of the 1,500 United States prisoners believed to have been 
        held at Mukden died during the first winter of their imprisonment and 
        many of the 300 living survivors of Mukden claim to suffer from physical 
        ailments resulting from their subjection to chemical and biological 
        experiments;
Whereas the Japanese military invaded Nanjing, China, from December, 1937, until 
        February, 1938, during the period known as the ``Rape of Nanjing'', and 
        brutally and systematically slaughtered more than 300,000 Chinese men, 
        women, and children and raped more than 20,000 women;
Whereas the Japanese military enslaved millions of Koreans during World War II 
        and forced hundreds of thousands of women into sexual slavery for 
        Japanese troops;
Whereas international jurists in Geneva, Switzerland ruled in 1993 that women 
        who were forced to be sexual slaves of the Japanese military during 
        World War II (known by the Japanese military as ``comfort women'') 
        deserve at least $40,000 each as compensation for their ``extreme pain 
        and suffering'';
Whereas the Government of Germany has formally apologized to the victims of the 
        Holocaust and gone to great lengths to provide financial compensation to 
        the victims and to provide for their needs and recovery; and
Whereas by contrast the Government of Japan has refused to fully acknowledge the 
        crimes it committed during World War II and to provide reparations to 
        its victims: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that the Government of Japan should--
            (1) formally issue a clear and unambiguous apology for the 
        atrocious war crimes committed by the Japanese military during 
        World War II; and
            (2) immediately pay reparations to the victims of those 
        crimes, including United States military and civilian prisoners 
        of war, survivors of the ``Rape of Nanjing'' from December, 
        1937, until February, 1938, and the women who were forced into 
        sexual slavery and known by the Japanese military as ``comfort 
        women''.
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