Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on Thursday blasted Shinzo Abe for considering revising the 1993 Kono statement, the first official acknowledgment that the Imperial Japanese Army had forced women into sexual servitude at wartime brothels set up by the military.
"It was very clear that the Imperial Japanese Army thought the 'comfort women' system was necessary for the military's operations in maintaining hygiene and security and preventing espionage," Murayama told a news conference at the Japan National Press Club. He served as the only prime minister from the ex-Japan Socialist Party from 1994 to 1996.
"It is meaningless to try to parse whether the military had forced the women into prostitution," he said.