I have recently been covering the horrible comment by Japanese Prime Minsiter Abe denying that there is any proof that the sex slaves called "comfort women" used by Japanese soldiers in WW II had been coerced. You can see my coverage here, here and here. From this last one, let me point out that international legal findings disagree with Abe's statement:

"It is indisputable that these women were forced, deceived, coerced and abducted to provide sexual services to the Japanese military ... [Japan] violated customary norms of international law concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, slavery and the trafficking in women and children ... Japan should take full responsibility now, and make suitable restitution to the victims and their families."

International Commission of Jurists, November 1994

The only response I ever got from my inquiries to the Japanese embassy was that Japan had apologized, set up funds for the comfort women (neglecting to say that these funds were not paid for by the government but mostly from private donors) and that Abe's comments changed nothing.

Woefully inadequate!

But today, Prime Minister Abe has been pressured into an apology.

From Salon.com:

March 26,2007 | TOKYO -- Japan's prime minister, under fire for denying that Japan forced women to work as wartime sex slaves, on Monday offered a fresh apology for the front line brothels.

"I apologize here and now as prime minister," Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee Monday, according to spokesman Hiroshi Suzuki.