[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DEMANDING THAT JAPAN ACKNOWLEDGE ITS ENSLAVEMENT OF ``COMFORT WOMEN'' 
                          DURING WORLD WAR II

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 2, 2006

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, during World War II and the colonial 
occupation of Asia in the 1930s and 1940s, the Armed Forces of Imperial 
Japan, often in collusion with private traffickers, forced over 200,000 
young women and girls into military brothels. These women were 
euphemistically known as ``comfort women.'' This despicable sexual 
enslavement of mostly Korean and Chinese women was officially 
commissioned and orchestrated by the Government of Japan.
  In one of the most extensive cases of human trafficking in the 20th 
century, women and girls throughout Asia were recruited by force, 
coercion, or deception, transported across national borders, and kept 
at the mercy of the Japanese military in subhuman conditions. They were 
raped, beaten, and forced to have abortions.
  However, the horror of this experience did not end with the cessation 
of hostilities. Many comfort women were killed by Japanese soldiers 
after Japan surrendered. Some of these women could not return to their 
homes, and found themselves abandoned in hostile lands where they were 
viewed as collaborators.
  Those who survived live daily with the painful memories of their 
enslavement, and many still suffer serious health effects as a result 
of their ordeal. Due to the shame connected to their captivity, many 
comfort women chose to conceal their enslavement and many others have 
come forward about it only in recent years.
  While the facts of these crimes are incontrovertible, the Government 
of Japan has not officially accepted responsibility for this atrocity. 
Some textbooks used in Japan minimize the comfort women tragedy and 
distort the Japanese role in these and other crimes committed during 
World War II. Moreover, as recently as June 2005, Japanese Government 
officials praised the removal of the term ``comfort women'' from 
Japanese textbooks.
  The Government of Japan's disregard for correcting past wrongs has 
been further demonstrated by its leaders' frequent pilgrimages to the 
Yasukuni Shrine near the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo. The Yasukuni 
Shrine is dedicated to the 2.5 million people who died in Japan's 
conflicts between 1853 and 1945 but also memorializes 14 convicted 
Class A war criminals that committed many atrocities during World War 
II.
  Despite international criticism, the current Japanese Prime Minister, 
Junichiro Koizumi, has made several visits to Yasukuni since he took 
office in 2001 and has stated that he will continue making the visits 
through the end of his term.
  On April 4, 2006, Congressman Christopher Smith and I introduced H. 
Res. 759, legislation that calls on Japan to acknowledge and accept 
responsibility for forcing women and girls into sexual slavery during 
the World War II era. We hope that this bill will encourage Japan to be 
honest about its history and to educate current and future generations 
about this crime against humanity.
  Mr. Speaker, for these reasons I urge my colleagues to support this 
important piece of legislation, in order to demonstrate that we do not 
forget the suffering of the comfort women and the criminality of those 
who enslaved them.

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