The Murayama Statement and the Kono Statement can be said to share common ground in that they both bring dishonor on Japan in order to show that these men have conscience. This conduct is quite contemptible and is against our national interests. They bathe in self-satisfaction by showing that they are conscientious, kind men while they bring disgrace on our predecessors and our country, which our forebears risked their lives to defend, and so dishonor even those efforts. … It means that we have admitted that Japan is a terrible country that brought dishonor on women, forcing comfort women to work as a sex slaves. It has been difficult to explain that this is not a historical fact and to dispel the image given. This kind of problem arose when I was prime minister. Just stating in the Diet that Japan did not carry out any such abductions became big news in the US. … At that time [the group of young Diet members considering the content of history schoolbooks], all of the seven publishing houses made mention of comfort women. That’s just not right. We took a calm, collected look at the facts. As a consequence, we found that there was no evidence regarding abduction. It was also revealed that lies [the testimonies] had been told. Former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Ishihara, who conducted the investigation, shed tears in front of my very eyes, saying, “I never thought this would appear in school textbooks. But I was wrong. I feel deeply ashamed. ”
Name
Shinzo Abe
Position
A Member of the House of Representatives
Party
The Liberal Democratic Party
Date of Speech
2010/10/8
Place of Speech
The LDP's Youtube Page
Source
安倍晋三元総裁「軽率なる『総理談話』を阻止！！」2010.08.06 (The ex-president [of the LDP] "Stop the hasty "PM's statement"!!" 2010.08.06)
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