Abe: No new apology for war brothels
来自美联社发自日本东京的报道：日本首相安倍晋三称将不会为其在二战期间军妓（即慰安妇）道歉，即使是在美国通过一项决议要求日方如此做的情况下。
安倍就其上周对二战期间强迫妇女充当军队妓女一事做了详细地说明，称美国众议院上月的听证会语词中没能提供出任何强有力的证据证明日军的虐行。
“我必须说明即使决议通过，我们仍然不会道歉，”安倍在长时间的辩论中如此对那些立法委员们说道。在此次辩论中他也同时提到，他支持日本1993年对军妓作出的里程碑式的道歉。
历史学家称全亚洲总共有20万名女性自上世纪30年代到40年代间在日本军队充当妓女，她们中的多数来自韩国和中国。
日军犯下的种种虐行已经被众多的证人、受害人、甚至前日本的士兵所证实，其虐行中包括绑架成年妇女和未成年女童作妓女。
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan will not apologize again for its World War II military brothels, even if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution demanding it, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament Monday.
Abe, elaborating on his denial last week that women were forced to serve as frontline prostitutes, said none of the testimony in hearings last month by the U.S. House of Representatives offered any solid proof of abuse.
"I must say we will not apologize even if there's a resolution," Abe told lawmakers in a lengthy debate, during which he also said he stood by Japan's landmark 1993 apology on the brothels.
Historians say that up to 200,000 women -- mostly from Korea and China -- served in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and '40s.
Accounts of abuse by the military -- including kidnapping of women and girls for use in the brothels -- have been backed up by witnesses, victims and even former Japanese soldiers.
But prominent Japanese scholars and politicians routinely deny direct military involvement or the use of force in rounding up the women, blaming private contractors for any abuses.
Abe last week sided with the critics, saying that there was no proof that the women were coerced into prostitution, igniting a storm of criticism and protests in South Korea and other countries where the women came from.
On Monday, he elaborated, saying there was no evidence of coercion in the strict sense -- such as kidnapping -- but he acknowledged that brokers procuring women otherwise forced the victims to work as prostitutes. Abe did not explain further.
The U.S. House is considering a nonbinding resolution that would demand a formal acknowledgment and apology from the Japanese government for the brothels.
A House committee heard testimony last month from women who described being taking captive by Japanese authorities and repeatedly raped as so-called "comfort women."
Abe suggested he did not consider such testimony conclusive evidence.
"There was no testimony based that had any proof," he told lawmakers Monday.
