Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday reaffirmed that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe upholds the position set out by the 1995 apology issued by then-Prime Minister Tomiichii Murayama, which admits that Japan waged wars of aggression.
"Prime Minister Abe's comment yesterday is no different from his previous position," Suga said, a day after Abe nimbly avoided clarifying his opinion on whether Japan waged wars of aggression or forced the annexation of the Korean Peninsula, during a debate among the party leaders in Tokyo.
Abe responded that the interpretation of history should be left to historians and that he is not in position to cast judgment.