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Rep. Rintaro Ogata (left) confronts Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) during a Budget Committee meeting in Japan’s House of Representatives

“So far, we haven’t heard an apology about the comfort women from your lips, Prime Minister. I think you ought to say it in your own words at least once. How about it?”

“I expressed my thoughts in the talks between our foreign ministers and on the phone with President Park. If I have to keep apologizing whenever this question is asked, this issue will never finally be brought to a close.”

The argument took place at the Budget Committee of Japan’s House of Representatives on the morning of Jan. 12 between Rep. Rintaro Ogata with the Democratic Party of Japan, a former official in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two were locked in fierce debate about the agreement reached by Seoul and Tokyo on the comfort women issue on Dec. 28, 2015.

Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida read a statement on behalf of Abe during the press conference at which the comfort women settlement was announced on Dec. 28. “As the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe once more expresses a heartfelt apology and his feelings of remorse for all of the people who, as comfort women, suffered a lot and endured injuries in both body and soul that are difficult to heal,” the statement said.

Ogata wanted Abe to make this statement of apology himself, but Abe refused to do so.

“So you mean that you don’t want to say it,” Ogata pressed.

“As I’ve already said, I made the apology to President Park. If I’m asked to say the same thing two years or three years from now, we’ll never reach a final and irreversible settlement on the comfort women issue. The important thing is to take responsibility to bring this issue to an end,” Abe said.

“I’m saying you ought to make the apology at least once to the outside world.”

“I already made the apology to President Park on behalf of the state.”

“If you don’t make the apology yourself, doubt arises whether you really mean to reach a final settlement.”

“Both South Korea and Japan have their own national interests, and the people of those countries have their own feelings. I spoke to President Park with sincerity. Rep. Ogata, there is no politics in foreign affairs. You shouldn’t be digging this up again as if there’s some kind of problem,” Abe said.

In response to a separate question by Ogata about the issue of the statue of a young girl [symbolizing the comfort women in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul], Abe said, “Given that the comfort women issue has been finally and irreversibly resolved through this settlement, I believe that the South Korean government will take appropriate measures in regard to the statue in keeping with the settlement.”

When asked whether “appropriate measures” included the removal of the statue, Abe said, “When I say ‘appropriate measures,’ I’m talking about the statue being removed.”

In the end, Abe basically made clear that he does not want to make a personal apology and that he expects the statue of the young girl to be removed. With Abe’s attitude being reconfirmed in this fashion, activist groups in South Korea and Japan are likely to keep questioning the sincerity of the apology that Abe made as part of the Dec. 28 settlement.

By Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent

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