What is Kono Statement?

I need to write about Kono Statement, because this is THE cause of global misunderstanding on the comfort women issue. 

Ms. Sakurai Yoshiko, the journalist and the founder of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, explains well in her book “Japan, Brush up your Historical Knowledge” （日本よ、歴史力を磨け）, pp. 12-37:

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Kono Statement, made by the then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono Yohei in 1993, acknowledged that the Japanese military “forced” women into prostitution, in response to the Korean government’s request for doing so.

Miyazawa Cabinet at the time researched over 200 official documents, internal and external, yet found not even one document that indicated the “coercion” of comfort women by the Japanese government. Nevertheless, based only on the interviews with some Korean comfort women, Kono acknowledged “coercion” and stated publicly that the Japanese government “coerced” women into prostitution.  

Kono Statement says the following:

“… The Government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, etc, and that, at times, administrative / military personnel directly took part in the recruitments…”

After issuing the statement, Kono was questioned by journalists at the press conference:

Journalist: “Do you mean that there were facts of coercing women into prostitution?”

Kono: “There were facts – this understanding is ok.”

Journalist: “I understand that there was no official document found, and thus interviews with Korean comfort women were conducted. Wasn’t there any objective evidence found?”

Kono: “Coercion can be physical, or mental. Mental coercion cannot be recorded on the official documents… In either case, it is clear that there were many cases that happened against the women’s will.”

In short, there was no objective evidence.

Then why did Kono issue such false statement to acknowledge the coercion by the government / military, disgracing Japan beyond words?

The then Deputy Cabinet Secretary Ishihara Nobuo confessed later as follows (“The Cost of the Secret Deal: Why the Comfort Women Issue got Complicated“, in Bungei Shunjyu, April, 1997. 文芸春秋、97年4月号、「密約外交の大小―慰安婦問題はなぜこじれたか」):

In view of the political situations at that time, the Korean Government had been strongly requesting the Japanese Government to acknowledge “coercion” to respect the “honor” of the comfort women. The Korean Government selected 16 comfort women, and requested the Japanese Government to listen to their testimonies. The Japanese Government listened to the testimonies; however, the testimonies did not prove the direct coercion by the Japanese military, nor did they have objective rationality. The Japanese Government was not convinced of the “coercion”, yet the atmosphere became such that the government had no choice but to “politically” admit “coercion”. At the same time, the Japanese Government implicitly understood that, as long as the Japanese Government acknowledged “coercion”, the Korean Government would never ever bring up the issue of Comfort Women, and would not request economic compensation.

However, such “implicit understanding” is not documented.

Thus, without fairly analyzing the comfort women’s “testimonies”, the Japanese Government acknowledged “coercion”, in wishful thinking that the matter would settle if it compromised. As a consequence, the Kono Statement is now regarded as the “evidence” of the “coercion”. 14 years later, Kono Statement was used as the evidence for the Resolution on the Comfort Women at the US Congress. The fabrication has led to another fabrication, spreading more fabrications around the world.

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Indeed, the first Abe Cabinet in 1997 approved that “Among the documents that the government discovered, there was no document that directly indicated the coercion (of comfort women) by the military or the government”.

The second Abe Cabinet, under the Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide, indicates that they would re-examine Kono Statement through the well-informed panel.

Kono Statement is thus a groundless statement made by an irresponsible government official who is ignorant of the historical facts. It is absurd that the Japanese Government has held it as an official view until now. This is mainly because: 1) many government officials lack sufficient historical knowledge to counter fabrications, 2) large number of leftist Japanese intellectuals and media (like Asahi), who are anti-Japan and pro-Korea/China, with masochistic historical view, strongly support and disseminate fabrications, and 3) Korea, supported by 2), make this a sensitive political issue.

First and foremost, Japanese people must wake up to the facts that Japanese government / military never forced women into prostitution during WWII. Then, Japanese should speak up and stop the bloated lie of “200,000 sexual slavery by the Japanese army” that anti-Japan Japanese and Koreans spread so willingly.

It is only then, Japan will be able to restore itself, and make things better. True peace cannot be built on lies.