Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent statements on the Japanese military's use of "comfort women" during the war years trivializes the real issue. By focusing on whether Japanese soldiers used physical force to recruit young Asian women into a form of sex slavery, he shifts attention from the government and military's involvement in the establishment and operation of the system.
On one hand, Mr. Abe says he stands by the August 1993 statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, now Lower House Speaker, that comfort stations were established at the request of the military and that the Imperial armed forces were directly and indirectly involved in managing them and in transporting women. The statement also says many women were recruited against their will -- by deception, coercion, etc. -- by civilians acting at the military's request and that, in some cases, "government authorities" were directly involved in such recruitment.
On the other hand, Mr. Abe says no testimonies have proven the existence of coercion "in a narrow sense" -- in which "government authorities" intruded into houses and took women away by force. But he admits that there were cases of coercion "in a broader sense" -- in which civilians acting on the military's behalf used coercion.