Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said there is no need for Japan to make a fresh apology for forcing women from other parts of Asia into sexual servitude for the Japanese military during the war, even if the US Congress passes a resolution calling on him to do so. "We will not apologize because of a resolution," Abe told the House of Councilors Budget Committee, referring to the draft resolution on the table at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The draft resolution is not based on objective facts nor does it reflect the Japanese government's responses so far," he said. Abe reiterated he will stand by the government's 1993 statement acknowledging and apologizing for the forced recruitment of what Japan euphemistically referred to as "comfort women" in Japanese-occupied territories, including the Korean Peninsula and China. The statement made by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on August 4, 1993 accepted the existence of comfort stations, as well as the direct or indirect involvement of the then Japanese military in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and that, although recruitment was carried out by private recruitment, it was done at the request of the military. Some historians estimate that up to 200,000 women from the Korean Peninsula, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, the present-day Indonesia and elsewhere were forced into sexual servitude by the wartime Japanese military in the 1930s and '40s, but others dispute this view. US Democratic Representative Mike Honda of California and some powerful Republicans submitted the resolution on January 31 urging Japan's prime minister to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner" for the former sex slaves. Japan has protested the resolution, saying prime ministers have repeatedly offered apologies, but prospects are high it will clear the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Kyodo News, Japan Times
Do you feel that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should formally apologize for its responsibility for the "comfort women" used during World War II as a result of an impending US resolution calling him to do so, despite his insistence that a previous statement by the former Chief Cabinet Secretary goes far enough?