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US newspaper ad to urge Abe to apologize for wartime sexual slavery

March 17, 2015

The Korean American Civic Empowerment group is responsible for taking out the ad (Courtesy of KACE)

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Yonhap) — A full-page advertisement will appear in a U.S. newspaper this week to urge Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize for the country’s sexual enslavement of women for its troops during World War II, the ad’s sponsor said Tuesday.

The Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE), an organization of Korean Americans, helped sponsored the advertisement that will appear in the Wednesday edition of the Hill, a Washington-based newspaper specializing in congressional topics.

The ad comes as Abe seeks to address a joint session of Congress when he visits Washington next month.

“Mr. Abe must apologize to the victims of military sexual slavery by Imperial Japan during WWII,” the ad reads, according to a copy provided by the sponsor. “Accept responsibility for Japan’s war crimes before addressing U.S. Congress!”

It also carries the images of two sexual slavery victims — Jan Ruff-O’Herne of Australia and Lee Yong-soo of South Korea — speaking at a U.S. congressional hearing held in 2007 that led to the unanimous adoption of a landmark resolution (H.R. 121) that urged Japan to apologize for the crime.

The ad also has an image of Abe visiting Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including Class A criminals. Japanese leaders have made visits to the shrine even though they are denounced by South Korea and China as attempt to glorify Japan’s wartime past.

“Mr. Abe must vow to cease visits to the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 class A war criminals, including those responsible for the Pearl Harbor attacks, are enshrined as war heroes and Gods,” the ad reads.

Korean-American organizations in the United States have campaigned against Abe making a speech before Congress. The organizations have collected about 6,000 signatures and the newspaper ad is part of such efforts. They claim Abe should not be allowed to do so as he has tried to whitewash Japan’s militaristic past and wartime atrocities.

For Abe to address Congress, there should be an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner.

“As far as I know, Speaker Boehner has not decided yet whether to acccept Abe’s speech,” said Kim Dong-suk, a leader of the KACE. “Korean organizations will combine strength and actively convey voices against Abe’s address to Congress.”

Should Abe be invited to speak before a joint session of the House and the Senate, he will be the first Japanese prime minister to do so. Even if he is invited to speak only before the U.S. House of Representatives, he will be the only the fourth Japanese leader to do so.