英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Aug. 30, 2012)
Kono's 'comfort women' statement must be reviewed
河野談話　「負の遺産」の見直しは当然だ（8月29日付・読売社説）

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's recent visit to the Takeshima islands has reignited the so-called comfort women issue.
　韓国の李明博大統領の竹島訪問に関連し、いわゆる従軍慰安婦問題が再燃している。

It is undeniable that a 1993 statement by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono is the root cause of the controversy. The government should review this statement, prepare a new concept concerning the issue and convey it to the public and the international community.
　その根底には、慰安婦問題に関する１９９３年の河野官房長官談話があることは否定できない。政府は、これを見直し、新たな見解を内外に表明すべきである。

At a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said his administration would adhere to the Kono statement. However, Noda added that the government "was not able to confirm the forcible recruitment [of comfort women] from documents, so the [Kono] statement was based on interviews with comfort women."
　野田首相は参院予算委員会で、河野談話を踏襲するとしながらも「強制連行の事実を文書で確認できず、慰安婦への聞き取りから談話ができた」と説明した。

Jin Matsubara, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, proposed that ministers should debate the comfort women issue from the standpoint of reviewing the Kono statement.
松原国家公安委員長は談話を見直す観点から閣僚間の議論を提起した。

The 1993 statement said: "The recruitment of the comfort women was conducted mainly by private recruiters who acted in response to a request from the military.
　河野談話は、慰安婦の募集について「軍の要請を受けた業者が主として当たった」とした上で、

"In many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, and so on, and that, at times, administrative and military personnel directly took part in the recruitments."
「本人たちの意思に反して集められた事例が数多くあり、更に、官憲等が直接これに加担したこともあった」と記した。

===

No verification

However, the government could find no documents proving the military or other government authorities forcibly recruited comfort women. The Kono statement was based solely on the statements of former comfort women and there were no investigations to verify their remarks.
　しかし、軍や官憲が慰安婦を強制的に連行したことを示す資料は発見できなかった。元慰安婦の証言のみが根拠とされ、これを裏付ける調査も行われていない。

At the time, several South Korean women identified themselves as former comfort women and demanded an apology from the Japanese government. We assume the government took into account Japan's diplomatic relations with South Korea when it issued the Kono statement.
　当時、韓国の元慰安婦らが名乗り出て日本政府に謝罪などを求めていた。談話の背景には、外交的配慮もあったのだろう。

However, as a result of the statement, the international community came to believe things that were not true, such as the Imperial Japanese Army systematically and forcibly recruiting women to make them "sex slaves."
　結果として、旧日本軍が女性を組織的に強制連行して「性奴隷」にしたといった誤解が、世界に定着した。

The U.S. House of Representatives and the European Parliament adopted resolutions condemning Japan on the comfort women issue, and called on the Japanese government to apologize.
米下院や欧州議会などは慰安婦問題で日本政府の謝罪を求める対日批判決議を採択した。

Up to now, however, no evidence proving the forcible recruitment of comfort women has been found.
　だが、その後も、旧日本軍による慰安婦の強制連行を証明する資料は見つかっていない。

When the U.S. House of Representatives was discussing the comfort women issue in March 2007, the Cabinet of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a written reply to a question posed by a Diet member on the issue. The reply said "descriptions directly indicating forcible recruitments by the military and other government authorities had not been found in documents" unearthed by the government.
　米下院で慰安婦問題が取り上げられていた２００７年３月、安倍内閣は「資料には軍や官憲によるいわゆる強制連行を直接示すような記述も見当たらなかった」とする政府答弁書を閣議決定した。

The response clarified the government's stance that documents supporting the Kono statement did not exist, although at the same time it adhered to the statement.
　河野談話を継承しつつ、その根拠となる資料は存在しないという立場を明確にしたものだ。

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'Negative legacy' of LDP

However, if the situation is left unchanged, it will be difficult to dispel the international community's misunderstandings on the comfort women issue.
　だが、このままでは国際社会の誤解を払拭することは難しい。

It was reasonable for Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto to call on the government to review the contents of the Kono statement after saying the statement--which was not authorized by the Cabinet--and the 2007 written reply contradict each other. He also said the statement was the "main cause" of Japan-South Korea friction.
　大阪市の橋下徹市長が、閣議決定もされていない河野談話と０７年の閣議決定は矛盾しており、河野談話の内容を見直すべきだと述べたのは、もっともである。橋下氏は河野談話を日韓の紛争の「最大の元凶」とも批判している。

The government must take measures to prevent misunderstandings on the comfort women issue from spreading further.
　政府は、誤解の拡散を招かぬよう手立てを講じる必要がある。

As there is no conclusive evidence that the Imperial Japanese Army forcibly recruited comfort women, the Noda Cabinet should review the Kono statement--a "negative legacy" of Liberal Democratic Party administrations--and explain the government's stance on the issue to the public and the world in a manner easy to understand.
　野田内閣は、旧日本軍による慰安婦強制連行の確証がないことを踏まえ、河野談話という自民党政権時代の「負の遺産」を見直し、日本政府の立場を内外に分かりやすく説明しなければならない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 29, 2012)
（2012年8月29日01時18分 読売新聞）