Three days later on January 17, 1992, at a dinner given by South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, the Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa advised his host: “We Japanese should at the start recall the truth of that tragic period when Japanese actions inflicted suffering and sorrow upon your folks. We must always always remember our feelings of remorse over this. As Prime Minister of Japan, I want to declare anew my remorse at these deeds and tender my apology to the folks of the Republic of Korea.” He apologized once more the next day in a speech earlier than South Korea’s National Assembly. This ignited protest from neighbouring international locations reminiscent of China and also sparked curiosity in the subject among some Japanese, including quite a lot of wartime veterans who started to speak extra brazenly about their previous actions. She adopted by others in several different international locations demanding an apology from the Japanese authorities by means of filing a lawsuit. However, the institution of the AWF was criticized as a approach for the Japanese government to evade state duty; the institution of the fund also prompted protests from varied Asian countries. The fund was additionally used to current an official Japanese narrative about the issue.
However, the consolation ladies difficulty was not a central matter and as an alternative most of this resurgence in historic interest went in direction of different themes such as the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731. Nevertheless, historians who had studied Japan’s wartime actions in-depth have been already aware of the existence of consolation girls normally. The Japanese government initially denied any responsibility, however, in January 1992, historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi found official paperwork from the archives of the Defense Agency’s National Institute of Defense Studies which indicated Japanese military involvement in establishing and working “comfort stations.” Following this, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa became the primary Japanese chief to situation a statement specifically apologising for the comfort women difficulty. In 1993, following a number of testimonies, the Kono Statement (named after then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono) was issued by Japanese Government confirming that coercion was concerned in seizing the comfort girls. In 2014, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga formed a staff to reexamine the background of the report. On February 20, 2014, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Japanese authorities could reconsider the study and the apology.
In 1999, the Japanese historian Kazuko Watanabe complained about a lack of sisterhood among Japanese women, citing a survey exhibiting 50% of Japanese girls didn’t imagine in the tales of the consolation ladies, charging that many Japanese merely regard different Asians as “others” whose feelings do not count. When it comes to marriage, selections, and life outcomes, truthful-skinned girls are in a better place than these with darker complexions, since lighter skin is traded for a cheaper dowry. Although Oregon voters approved an amendment to the Oregon Constitution in 2004 to prohibit identical-sex marriages, the Coquille are a federally recognized sovereign nation, and thus not sure by the Oregon Constitution. On 12 November, PASOK announced its intention to introduce a bill extending the cohabitation settlement regulation to identical-intercourse couples. In the ultimate agreement reached in the 1965 treaty, Japan supplied an $800 million assist and low-curiosity loan package deal over 10 years.
In 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan asserted officially the view that the expression “sex slaves” contradicts the details and should not be used, noting that this level had been confirmed with South Korea in a Japan-South Korea settlement. After the assessment, Suga and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged that Japan continues to uphold the Kono Statement. The assessment brought to light coordination between Japan and South Korea in the technique of composing the Kono Statement and concluded that, on the request of Seoul, Tokyo stipulated coercion was involved in recruiting the girls. Japan offered to compensate the victims, but South Korea insisted that Japan merely give the South Korean government monetary support as a substitute. Three South Korean ladies filed go well with in Japan in December 1991, across the time of the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor assault, demanding compensation for compelled prostitution. Abe again expressed his most honest apologies and remorse to all the women. However, Prime Minister Abe clarified on March 14, 2014, that he had no intention of renouncing or altering it.