Cabinet ministers will contribute 100,000 yen each to a semipublic fund set up to pay compensation to wartime "comfort women" from other parts of Asia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
Fukuda said he requested the "voluntary based" donation during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, to help the Asian Women's Fund raise necessary funds to cope with the increasing number of applicants, Fukuda said.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will donate 150,000 yen, and 16 other Cabinet members were asked to contribute 100,000 yen each, Fukuda said, adding the remaining two Upper House members elected in the proportional representation system are prohibited from making such donations under the Public Offices Election Law.
The fund, launched in 1995, has collected 448 million yen in donations and paid out 340 million yen to 170 people who claimed they were eligible. At present, there are some 160 potential applicants, a fund official said.
Japan has rejected demands for official compensation, claiming the wartime compensation issue has been already settled at the state level.