英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun
More outward approach needed to fix ‘comfort women’ misperception
政府慰安婦説明　誤解払拭へ国際発信を強めよ

Japan must ramp up outbound dissemination of information in an effort to eliminate misperceptions about the so-called comfort women issue.
　慰安婦問題に関する誤解を払拭するため、国際的な情報発信を一段と強化せねばならない。

During a recent session of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in Geneva, the government gave comprehensive explanations about facts related to the issue for the first time, saying among other things that no documents confirming forcible recruitment of comfort women have been found.
　政府は、ジュネーブでの国連女子差別撤廃委員会で、慰安婦の強制連行を裏付ける資料は発見されていないことなど、事実関係について初めて包括的に説明した。

Referring to testimony by the late Seiji Yoshida that he “hunted women” for recruitment of comfort women on Jeju Island in what is now South Korea, Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama denounced his testimony as a total fabrication and said The Asahi Shimbun, which had reported his testimony, had since admitted it was an erroneous report and apologized over it.
　杉山晋輔外務審議官が、韓国で「女性狩り」をしたとする吉田清治氏の証言は捏造ねつぞうで、吉田証言を報道した朝日新聞が誤報を認め、謝罪したことにも言及した。

Though the government’s rebuttal came belatedly, it is absolutely necessary to accurately correct the international community’s misunderstanding of the facts and actively rebut assertions that could damage the reputation of Japan.
　遅きに失した感はあるが、国際社会では、事実誤認は的確に正し、日本を貶おとしめる主張には積極的に反論することが欠かせない。

Touching on Japan’s support for former comfort women based on the Asian Women’s Fund and the Japan-South Korea agreement last December, Sugiyama said, “Criticisms that the Japanese government denies history and has taken no action on the matter run counter to facts.”
　杉山氏は、アジア女性基金や昨年１２月の日韓合意に基づく元慰安婦支援に触れ、「日本政府が歴史の否定をしているとか、何の措置もとっていないという批判は事実に反する」と強調した。

With this as a starting point, Japan must step up diplomatic efforts to disseminate all facts related to the comfort women issue across the world.
　これを機に、慰安婦問題に関して、正確な事実関係を世界に広げる外交努力を加速させたい。

Of concern is the global spread of the misperception that “200,000 women were forced by the Japanese military to become sex slaves.”
　懸念されるのは、「日本軍が２０万人の女性を性奴隷にした」といった誤った言説が、世界各国でひとり歩きしていることだ。

Contrary to facts

The spread of that misperception was triggered by a report by Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in 1996.
　誤解を広げた発端は、１９９６年に国連人権委員会に提出されたクマラスワミ報告である。

Using the Yoshida testimony as part of its grounds for concluding that the comfort women were “sex slaves,” the report mentioned that the number of comfort women hailing from the Korean Peninsula alone totaled 200,000. Such a mistaken expression was inscribed as part of the epitaphs of comfort women statues installed in the United States.
　吉田証言を論拠の一つとして慰安婦を「性奴隷」と断じた。慰安婦の数は、朝鮮半島出身者だけでも２０万人と記載した。こうした誤まった表現は、米国に設置された慰安婦像の碑文にも刻まれた。

Arguing that there can be no ground for asserting that there were “200,000” comfort women, Sugiyama also said the expression “sex slaves” was “contrary to the facts.”
　杉山氏は今回、「２０万人」に根拠はなく、「性奴隷」との表現は「事実に反する」と指摘した。

History researchers in Japan and foreign countries have assumed certain numbers of comfort women based on such data as the number of soldiers at the time. Their majority view is that 200,000 is an overestimated figure.
　慰安婦の数は、国内外の複数の歴史研究者が兵士の数などを基に推計しているが、２０万人は過大だとの見方が有力である。

It is regrettable, however, that the Foreign Ministry did not make any effective refutation when the Coomaraswamy’s report was submitted to the United Nations panel.
　悔やまれるのは、クマラスワミ報告が出た時点で、外務省が有効な反論をしなかったことだ。

This is probably because the ministry was bound by the fact that the report used some quotes from the statement made by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993. Kono said that “in many cases they were recruited against their own will” and “administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments.” Revision of the Kono Statement is a heavy challenge for the future.
　慰安婦募集が「総じて本人たちの意思に反して行われ」「官憲等が直接これに加担したこともあった」とした９３年の河野官房長官談話の一部が報告に引用され、それに縛られたのだろう。河野談話の見直しは今後の重い課題だ。

The South Korean government has contended during the U.N. panel session in Geneva that “the forcible mobilization of comfort women is a historical fact.” But it refrained from making a strong condemnation in consideration of the last year’s bilateral agreement that called for both parties to exercise self-restraint on criticizing each other at the United Nations and other international forums.
　韓国政府は、「慰安婦動員の強制性は歴史的事実」と主張した。一方で、国連などで相互批判を自制するとの昨年の日韓合意を踏まえ、強い非難はしなかった。

Japan’s focus this time on explaining the facts about comfort women can be deemed to be based on the same intention. Japan-South Korea relations have started improving after remaining stagnant for a long time. They must avoid a return to the folly of waging a futile battle of mutual criticism.
　日本が今回、事実関係の説明に徹したのも同じ趣旨だろう。長く停滞していた日韓関係は今、改善傾向にある。不毛な批判合戦に逆戻りする愚は避けるべきだ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 19, 2016)