Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will not act on ‘comfort women’ statue despite Japan’s objection
Historians say 20,000 to 200,000 women from across Asia, many of them Koreans, were forced to provide sex to Japan’s frontline soldiers
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will not act on an objection by Japan to a new statue in Manila that commemorates the Filipino “comfort women” who worked in Japanese military brothels during the second world war, his spokesman said on Thursday.
Relations between the two countries remains “very strong”, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters, playing down concern that the statue could hurt relations with Japan, a major source of aid and investment.
About 1,000 Philippine women were forced into prostitution by Japanese troops during the war – they are known by the Japanese euphemism “comfort women” – a sensitive issue that had prompted some survivors to demand an apology as well as compensation from Tokyo.
Roque said the statue was not an issue for Duterte to get involved in.
“It’s up to the people who erected the statue to do anything they want with it,” he said. “I don’t think it is really a diplomatic issue, no.”
If Japan really wants this issue to be settled ... it should officially recognise the horrors of state-sponsored sexual slavery
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines, a government agency, allowed a foundation to erect the bronze statue in a Manila tourist spot last month.