TAIWAN: Supporters of Taiwanese war-time comfort women protest in front of de facto Japanese embassy to demand an apology
Record ID:
574857
TAIWAN: Supporters of Taiwanese war-time comfort women protest in front of de facto Japanese embassy to demand an apology
- Title: TAIWAN: Supporters of Taiwanese war-time comfort women protest in front of de facto Japanese embassy to demand an apology
- Date: 12th August 2010
- Summary: TAIPEI, TAIWAN (AUGUST 11, 2010) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS AND SIGNS PROTESTERS CHANTING: JAPAN LIARS, GRANDMOTHERS' ANGER PROTESTER HOLDING A BLACK-AND-WHITE PICTURE OF COMFORT WOMAN PROTESTERS CHANTING PHOTOGRAPHER PICTURE OF A COMFORT WOMAN WEARING A MASK PROTESTERS PREPARING PUZZLE BOARD SIGN READING: I WON'T FORGET MY PAIN UNTIL I DIE JOURNALISTS SUPPORTER PUTTING A PUZZLE PIECE ONTO THE BOARD OF COMFORT WOMEN PICTURES SUPPORTER PUTTING ON A PUZZLE PIECE ON THE BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) LEGISLATOR HUANG SUE-YING SAYING "I don't know how many years I have come here to petition to the Japanese government, but every time they disappoint us. They do not admit their faults, nor apologise. This is a deep pain for the Taiwanese comfort women, who only want a sincere apology for their faults in history, not only compensation. Now that they have apologised to the Korean government, they should do the same to Taiwan." PROTESTERS WALKING TOWARDS THE BUILDING OF THE JAPAN INTERCHANGE ASSOCIATION PROTESTERS HOLDING UP THE PUZZLE BOARD AND A LETTER OF PETITION JAPANESE REPRESENTATIVE WALKING OUT OF THE BUILDING PROTESTERS LOOKING ON PROTESTER DELIVERING A LETTER OF PETITION PROTESTER HOLDING UP A MISSING PUZZLE PIECE BOARD WITH COMFORT WOMEN PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TAIPEI WOMEN'S RESCUE FOUNDATION, KANG SHU-HUA, SAYING "The grandmothers cannot come out today, and they have withered so much, only 14 are left. This issue is very urgent, but all we want is a formal apology from the Japanese government. Today, the Japanese government has sent down a manager to receive our petition letter, and it is a great improvement from the past, but they did not agree to complete the last piece on our memory puzzle, and this means they still can't face their faults in the past." BUILDING OF INTERCHANGE ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN POLICE WARNING PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF BUILDING SIGN OF "INTERCHANGE ASSOCIATION" POLICE GUARDING
- Embargoed: 27th August 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA5WNKRMVTK78T3CUDR49FB1LYC
- Story Text: Supporters of the Taiwanese "comfort women" gathered in front of the de facto Japanese embassy in Taipei on Wednesday (August 11), demanding an apology for Taiwanese victims after Japan's renewed apology to South Korea.
Dozens of protesters representing the former comfort women in Taiwan who did not come out because they are too old to bear the heat, held up signs and shouted out slogans amid tight security.
The protesters demanded the Interchange Association Japan acknowledge the suffering that Taiwanese women endured during Japanese occupation.
"I don't know how many years I have come here to petition to the Japanese government, but every time they disappoint us. They do not admit their faults, nor apologise. This is a deep pain for the Taiwanese comfort women, who only want a sincere apology for their faults in history, not only compensation. Now that they have apologised to the Korean government, they should do the same to Taiwan," said Huang Sue-ying, a legislator.
More than 50 Taiwanese women were forced to work in the so-called "comfort stations" during the Japanese occupation, with just fourteen of them still alive.
Today, the oldest of the Taiwanese comfort women has turned 94, while the youngest is 80 years old.
The protesters presented the Japanese representative with a "memory puzzle" composed of all the images of comfort women, asking him to complete the last piece as a symbol of recognition of these women's pain.
But the representative only took a petition letter from them and would not finish the puzzle.
"The grandmothers cannot come out today, and they have withered so much, only 14 are left. This issue is very urgent, but all we want is a formal apology from the Japanese government. Today, the Japanese government has sent down a manager to receive our petition letter, and it is a great improvement from the past, but they did not agree to complete the last piece on our memory puzzle, and this means they still can't face their faults in the past," said Kang Shu-hua, the Executive Director of Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation.
"Comfort women" is the Japanese term for the estimated 200,000 women forced to provide sex for Japan's soldiers at battle-zone brothels during World War Two.
Japanese authorities have made apologies on various occasions since 1992, when then prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa offered apologies to Korean war time sex slaves during a trip to Japan's former colony.
Shortly before, evidence was found that proved the military forced women, mostly Asian, to serve as wartime sex slaves for soldiers.
To fend off international criticism, Japan created the "Asia Women's Fund" in 1995, to give material compensation to victims, and also provide them with a signed apology of then prime minister Tomiichi Murayama.
From 1995 to 2007, the fund has handled nearly 565 million yen in private donations for compensation and about 750 million yen in government funds for medical welfare support to women from the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
Most recently Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan renewed an apology over Japanese war crimes to Korea on Tuesday (August 10).
Kan's apology is in line with a landmark 1995 statement to Asian countries by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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