Headlines
Japanese daily sued for shaming nation on sex slaves
Tokyo, Jan 27
A group of over 8,700 people
have sued the Japanese daily Asahi for articles on sexual slavery
during World War II and have sought compensation and apology for
"spreading erroneous facts to international society", the Mainichi
newspaper reported Tuesday.
According to the suit filed at the
Tokyo district court Monday, the plaintiffs, including researchers,
journalists and lawmakers, demanded that Asahi pay a compensation of
10,000 yen ($75) to each for having harmed the Japanese people's
personal rights and honour.
Sophia University professor emeritus
Shoichi Watanabe, who is leading the plaintiffs, said at a press
conference that he was angry with Asahi for making the Japanese people
feel ashamed.
More people plan to join the lawsuit and it is
expected that in the future, the number of plaintiffs could increase to
some 13,000, a spokesperson from the group told the Kyodo news agency.
The
suit comes after Asahi apologised in August for a series of reports,
published decades ago and allegedly based on false accounts, about
recruitment of women in the Korean island of Jeju to service the sexual
needs of Japanese troops during World War II.
The plaintiffs
criticised the newspaper saying, "Asahi has merely apologised to readers
and made no efforts to restore the public's honour in international
society".
An official from Asahi said that the company would decide how to deal with the matter after thoroughly studying the complaint.
About
200,000 young girls and women in China and Korea were forcibly
recruited by the Japanese army during the war to provide sexual services
to its soldiers and were known as "comfort women".
The episode continues to be a cause for tension between Japan and its two neighbours.
After
denying the cases of sexual slavery for decades, Japan finally admitted
to it and apologised in 1993 when clear proof came to light.
However, there are still movements that maintain, like the current lawsu