Regarding the Aug. 5 Jiji article "South Korea to issue 'comfort women' white paper in 2015": It's curious how Japan would have the world remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but cries foul when other nations remind Japan that not too long ago it was a militaristic power hellbent on cruel, bloody aggression across much of Asia and the Pacific.
Japan might be an industrial giant, but it acts as if it has the moral conscience and heart of a gnat. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ilk should visit Seoul, drop to their knees and offer a heartfelt apology in front of the memorial statue of a young Korean girl abducted by Japanese agents during World War II and forced into sexual servitude — or as the young victims like her might have piteously called it, "a living hell on earth, a living death." The more Japan tries to obfuscate the sex-slave issue or cover it up, the more the world will remember. Bravo, South Korea. Never let Japan forget, or the world.
Back in 1910, the United States was thrilled when Imperial Japan annexed Korea, ostensibly to bring the blessings of a more "advanced" civilization unto its Asian sisters and brothers. Japan liked to boast during its colonial era that it was Korea's "Big Brother." I wonder, did the wartime sex slaves have to take a Japanese name before being shipped overseas?
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.