The cash-strapped Asian Women's Fund, which collects contributions for women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, has decided to call on businesses and labor unions for financial assistance, informed sources said Tuesday.
According to the sources, the request comes as the fund finds itself roughly 170 million yen short of the minimum 320 million yen needed to pay out to the victims. Up to now, the fund had not actively sought contributions.
The fund, headed by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, will call on bodies such as the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) to have members put up collection boxes and posters for the fund and explain what it does through newsletters and bulletins, the sources said. The fund was set up in 1995 to collect donations from the Japanese public in order to give 2 million yen in compensation to every woman. Some 340 million yen has already been handed over.
Although at least 160 women are likely to be recognized as former comfort women and become eligible for compensation, the fund only has enough money at present to compensate 76 people.