Reading the face of the international community, Japan refrained from formally denying the Kono statement, claiming that it was a diplomatic mistake in the past and the like. However, Japan went the lengths of announcing the report on the "results of review" recently. This was a clear revelation of Japan's wrong view on history.

The sexual slavery enforced by the Japanese imperialists was a hideous crime against humanity unprecedented in history and it, therefore, can hardly be written off no matter how persistently Japan may deny it.

The Japanese imperialists forcibly drafted, lured and abducted 200 000 Korean women and many women of different other countries as sexual slaves to gratify the carnal desire of their soldiers. This crime was unprecedented in the war history.

The gravity of the sexual slavery was that it was committed by the Japanese military in an organized manner with the government involved.

The Japanese imperialists regarded it as one of the important jobs of the military authorities to provide soldiers with "sexual comfort" as a measure for raising the combat spirit of the aggressors and set up even a department for handling the issue after igniting the Pacific War.

As a result, a "comfort station" management system was established from the upper echelon to the lowest units of the Imperial Japanese Army and sexual slavery was enforced by it under its unified control and supervision.

As the Sino-Japan War dragged on and areas under the Japanese troops' occupation expanded, the Japanese military saw to it that all the problems related to the sexual slavery were settled under its direction.

The Japanese military directly provided the units stationed in the relevant areas with funds necessary for drafting and transporting sexual slaves and their passage and transport to the areas concerned were directly arranged by it or conducted under its supervision.

During the Pacific War the head of the Japanese government concurrently held the post of "supreme commander of the armed forces." This was undeniable evidence proving that the government was directly involved in the above-said sexual slavery.

This being a hard fact, Japan is persistently distorting and denying the sexual slavery. But this will only invite international isolation and political frustration.

International public had already warned Japan that its moves to deny the Kono statement would bring self-destruction to Japan, holding that its act of tearing off the pages of the blood-stained history would not help write off the evils perpetrated by it in the past.

If the present Japanese government fails to rectify its wrongdoings in the past, the responsibility for them will rest with the next generation.

Japan should face up to the trend of the times and stop at once the moves to distort and deny the Kono statement.