Shortly ago, the chief Cabinet Secretary, regarding the statue of a sexual slave for the Imperial Japanese Army in Berlin as a thorn in his flesh, insisted on its removal. He said that Japan would strive to "wrest fair appraisal by the world community."

Following him, various groups of good-for-nothings in Japan made a great fuss, calling for removing the statue and making protest calls.

This can never be overlooked as it is another frontal challenge to the international community urging for Japan's atonement for its crime-woven past.

If Japan really wants to be impartially appraised by the international community as a peace state, it should sincerely atone for its past crimes before anything else as it is its legal and moral obligation.

However, Japan still refuses to admit the war crimes in the last century, far from making an apology and reparation for them.

The sexual slavery is, indeed, a heinous state-sponsored unethical crime against hundreds of thousands of women committed under the pretext of enhancing the combat power and moral of the Imperial Japanese Army.

What matters is that Japan insulted the victims of the sexual slavery by calling them "volunteers for making money" and specified in the diplomatic blue paper that "such expression as sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army should not be used as it is contrary to the fact".

Worse still, Japan is justifying its impudent act while talking about the "final and irreversible settlement of the sexual slavery issue".

Lurking behind it is the black-hearted intention of the island country to evade its legal and moral responsibility by covering up and beautifying its blood-stained past.

History can neither be written off nor be changed no matter how desperately one may resort to denial and distortion.

If one nation was despised by another nation with its pride hurt by the latter in the past, the former can never forget it no matter how much water may flow under the bridge.

Not only the countries of victims but also other countries in the world are getting vocal, calling for Japan's atonement for its past crimes.

Japan should face up to the trend of the times and stop its rash acts.

If it persists in impudent acts as now, it will meet stronger denunciation by the international community.