NHK altered its 2001 documentary on a mock tribunal over Japan's wartime sexual slavery before it was aired because of 'political pressure' from senior lawmakers in the Liberal Democratic Party, the TV program's chief producer said Thursday.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='200' ALIGN='right' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='/images/photos2005/nn20050114a1a.jpg' WIDTH='200' HEIGHT='162'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>NHK producer Satoru Nagai mops away tears during a news conference at a hotel in Tokyo. </B></FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>'We were ordered to alter the program before it was aired,' Satoru Nagai told reporters in Tokyo. 'I would have to say that the alteration was made against the backdrop of political pressure.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The program originally included footage of a mock trial held by civic groups in December 2000. The 'verdict' found the late Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, guilty of permitting the sexual slavery.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Historians say Japan sent as many as 200,000 women -- many from the Korean Peninsula, which was then under Japanese rule -- to frontline brothels that served Japanese soldiers. Japan called the sex slaves 'comfort women.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>This segment was substantially cut before NHK aired the program.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'It is obvious that it was altered to gain consent from Mr. Abe and Mr. Nakagawa,' Nagai said, referring to key LDP politicians. 'I believe –

President Katsuji Ebisawa was aware of everything."

On Jan. 29, 2001 -- the day before the program was to be aired -- senior NHK officials met with Shinzo Abe, who was then deputy chief Cabinet secretary, and LDP lawmaker Shoichi Nakagawa, Nagai said, quoting his superiors.

Nakagawa, the current trade minister, was then head of a Diet group that was discussing what to do about history textbooks that were beginning to mention wartime atrocities committed by Japan during its aggression in Asia.

Nagai said he was told at the time by a senior NHK broadcasting bureau official, who had just met with Abe and Nakagawa, to immediately alter the program. The LDP pair had reportedly learned about the program's contents before its scheduled broadcast, he added.