JAPAN MOVES TO WEAKEN 1993 KONO APOLOGY ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000879

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV JA
SUBJECT: JAPAN MOVES TO WEAKEN 1993 KONO APOLOGY ON
"COMFORT WOMEN"


Classified By: DCM Joe Donovan. Reasons 1.4 (B),(D)


1. (C) Summary. Prime Minister Abe is directing efforts to
pursue World War II historical issues, including "comfort
women," LDP Diet member Yasuhide Nakayama told Embassy
Political Minister Counselor Meserve on February 28. The
Japanese government actions are in response to the U.S.
congressional resolution seeking a formal apology for Japan's
wartime acts against women forced into prostitution.
Nakayama reported he has received direct instructions from
LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa, speaking for the Prime
Minister, to press ahead with revision of the 1993 Kono
Statement on "comfort women." Nakayama uncomfortably allowed
to Meserve that he has misgivings about Abe's current
thinking and fears the effort to lobby in the U.S. will
backfire. Nonetheless, Nakayama submitted a proposal to the
LDP on March 1 to revise the Kono Statement. End Summary.

"Upgrading" the Kono Statement
--------------


2. (C) The statement issued in 1993 by Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yohei Kono is regarded as Japan's first official

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acknowledgment of responsibility for abuses against the
wartime "comfort women." It has been a lightning-rod for
conservative groups ever since. Prime Minister Abe,
following the example of his predecessors, acknowledged the
Kono Statement in an October 2006 Diet session. Privately,
however, according to Diet member Yasuhide Nakayama, he has
instructed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Policy Affairs
Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa to work within the
party framework to revise the controversial document, and
correct the "mistaken" impression that the government of
Japan officially ran forced prostitution centers during World
War II.


3. (C) Nakayama is chair of a subcommittee on "comfort
women," operating under the Committee of LDP Diet Members to
Consider Japan's Future and Historical Education. The
Committee, headed by former Education Minister Nariaki
Nakayama, is divided into two subcommittees, one on "comfort
women," and another on the Nanjing Massacre, headed by Toru
Toida. (Note: Nariaki Nakayama is not related to Yasuhide
Nakayama, but is married to Special Advisor to the Prime
Minister on Abduction Issues Kyoko Nakayama. End Note.) His
subcommittee has worked closely with the Office of the Prime
Minister (the "Kantei") in carrying out its work, he told
Embassy Political Minister Counselor Meserve on February 28.
In the past, according to Yasuhide Nakayama, Prime Minister
Abe and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura used
to attend meetings of the Committee. He said his
subcommittee has met five times, going through documents
collected by the Cabinet Secretariat and getting feedback
from historians and other individuals involved in drafting
the original statement.


4. (C) In researching the "comfort women" issue, Nakayama
said, he came to believe that the Kono Statement was at the
heart of the problem. The language is abstract and
"masochistic," he noted, leading readers to believe that
Japan's government was officially involved in organizing the
taking of the "comfort women" and forcing them into
prostitution. Part of the problem lies in translation, he
claimed. MOFA has never produced an official text, and
Nakayama finds many misleading expressions in the translation
that is commonly used. He added that some media outlets,
including the Japan Times, have done their own translations
aimed at "intentionally" misleading their readers. The
subcommittee's task has been to "upgrade" the text, with the
goal of preventing left-wing groups from using Kono's words
to attack Japan. Nakayama assured Meserve he has tried to be
careful to avoid using any language that would be damaging to
the U.S.-Japan relationship.


5. (C) On March 1, Nakayama's subcommittee announced a
proposal for revising the Kono Statement at LDP headquarters.
He furnished the Embassy with a preliminary draft on
February 28. The proposal will now be submitted to the LDP's
Education Division and Policy Deliberation Commission, and if
approved, then to the LDP leadership and the Kantei.

Conflicting Instructions from the Prime Minister's Office
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6. (C) Prime Minister Abe and his staff were aggressive in
pursuing the "comfort women" issue to counter the U.S.
congressional resolution, according to Nakayama. When
Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Public Relations
Hiroshige Seko met with Nakayama prior to Seko's February
trip to Washington, he told him he would be conducting a
press briefing in front of Capital Hill to discuss the issue.
Nakayama said he warned Seko at the time to deal with the
issue in a more restrained manner, and thinks his advice paid
off. After the visit, Seko spoke with Nakayama again and
counseled him to "not get too excited" about the "comfort
women" issue. He told Nakayama that the Kantei wanted to
avoid creating any controversy between the United States and
Japan so close to the Prime Minister's upcoming summit with
the President. Earlier press reports had been playing up the
opposite angle, criticizing the MOFA and the Japanese Embassy
in Washington for not doing enough to head off the
resolution, and noting that passage of the resolution would
damage U.S.-Japan ties.


7. (C) LDP policy chief Nakagawa acknowledged Seko's
softening position on the issue, but gave Nakayama a
different message, telling him to push ahead more
aggressively than ever, on the Prime Minister's direct
orders. That conversation notwithstanding, Nakayama believes
the Kantei has realized that it needs to put on the brakes,
based on advice from MOFA, the Japanese Embassy in
Washington, and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. He continues to
receive pressure from Nakagawa, however, and wonders if Abe
will be able to moderate his position. Many LDP members,
including most of the current cabinet, do not really back the
language of the Kono Statement, Nakayama noted, but they are
also conscious of preserving the balance between their
political interests, Japan's national interest, and the
U.S.-Japan relationship. Committee Chairman Nariaki Nakayama
has now told Yasuhide Nakayama that an "upgraded" version of
the Kono Statement is no longer necessary. Committee General
Secretary Kyoko Nishikawa has said, "the matter should not be

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aggravated."

Nakayama in the Middle
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8. (C) Nakayama had no intention of becoming the front man
for Japan's right-wing, he stressed, but was appointed to the
chair based on comments he made at the first Committee
meeting. At this point, all he wants is for Japan to deal
with the issue calmly, and to avoid pushing Abe's popularity
any lower. While he has come under some pressure from his
colleagues to argue more aggressively against the Honda
resolution, he believes such efforts would be
counterproductive for both Japan and the United States.

Nanjing Massacre More Problematic
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9. (C) Nakayama said he believes his presence on the
"comfort women" subcommittee acts as a neutralizing factor,
but worries much more about the subcommittee on the Nanjing
Massacre. Toida and core member Yohei Matsumoto are very
nationalistic, he warned, and want to start a national-level
campaign denouncing the common view held by China and many
others on Japan's responsibility for the atrocities committed
on Nanjing's residents. Toida is a member of an ultra
conservative religious organization and holds strong beliefs
on the issue. Nakayama said he has cautioned them about the
dangers of "blind patriotism" as a force to destroy the
nation.

Comment
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10. (C) The proposal for an "upgraded" version of the Kono
Statement given to us by Nakayama is problematic. It begins
by taking issue with a number of contentious but not major
historical points, and buries at the very end of the text a
reasonable paragraph noting the harm caused toward the
"comfort women," repeating an apology from Japan, and
committing to continue study of the historical issues.
Nakayama admitted that engaging aggressively on the issue
would only serve to raise the profile and spin up the
importance of this issue. He agreed that the issue was best

left to the historians, not the politicians. Nakayama
announced several weeks ago that he would be leading a
delegation to the United States to confront the issue, but
has made no concrete plans for a trip at this time.
SCHIEFFER