日本首相就慰安婦問題道歉

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has apologised in parliament for the country's use of women as sex slaves during World War II.

The apology comes after Mr Abe was criticised by Asian neighbours for previous comments casting doubt on whether the women were coerced.

Mr Abe told parliament: "I apologise here and now as prime minister."

This appears to be part of a concerted bid to reduce the fall-out of earlier comments, a BBC correspondent says.

Mr Abe said, during a debate in parliament's upper house, that he stood by an official 1993 statement in which Japan acknowledged the imperial army set up and ran brothels for its troops during the war.

"As I frequently say, I feel sympathy for the people who underwent hardships, and I apologise for the fact that they were placed in this situation at the time," he said.

His statement has gone a little further than similar attempts to clarify his position two weeks ago, but is unlikely to satisfy all his critics abroad, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says.

The row over his comments have compounded the difficulties facing Mr Abe. His six-month premiership has already been rocked by a series of scandals and gaffes.

An opinion poll on Monday found public support for him - Japan's youngest ever prime minister - had shrunk to just 35%.

US resolution

Mr Abe provoked an angry reaction earlier this month after questioning whether there was any proof that the Japanese military kidnapped women to work as sex slaves during the war.

Mr Abe's comments drew sharp criticism from China and South Korea in particular, where many of the women came from.

Many historians believe Japan compelled up to 200,000 women - who also came from the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan - to become sex slaves during the war.

But some Japanese conservatives argue that the women were professional prostitutes who had been paid for their services, and any abuses were carried out by private contractors rather than the military.

Mr Abe's comments about the use of coercion were made as the US Congress began considering a non-binding resolution, which calls for Tokyo to make an unequivocal apology for the so-called comfort women.

Officials in Japan reject the idea that the prime minister should be told how to apologise by politicians from overseas, our correspondent says.

They say the draft resolution does not recognise the efforts that have been made to compensate the former comfort women.

Mr Abe's latest remarks in parliament have been made to clear up any misunderstanding and not as a result of outside pressure, they stress.日本首相安倍晉三現已在國會就二戰時期日本強徵女性爲慰安婦的做法做出道歉。

安倍告訴國會：“我現在以首相的身份就此（慰安婦問題）道歉。”

在安倍就此問題做出道歉之前，他曾因拋出“慰安婦是否爲強迫暫無定論”這一言論而受到亞洲鄰國譴責。

英國廣播公司（BBC）的一名記者說，這似乎是降低安倍先前言論負面影響的努力中的一部分。

在日本議會上院的一場辯論中，安倍表示他贊同1993年的官方聲明，在聲明中，日本承認在二戰期間其帝國主義軍隊曾爲日本士兵設立慰安所，徵用慰安婦。

他還表示：“正如我常所說的那樣，我對那些遭受苦難的人們感到同情，我對她們當時被置於那種狀況表示道歉。”

BBC駐東京記者克里斯·霍格（Chris Hogg）表示，這一聲明比起安倍兩週前爲表明立場所做的類似努力似乎有進一步的發展，但仍不大可能滿足國外的所有批評者。

安倍言論引發的廣泛爭議使他面臨的局勢更爲複雜。他作爲日本首相上任6個月以來已捲入一系列的醜聞和言語過失之中。

週一進行的一項民意調查顯示，公衆對這位日本史上最年輕的首相的支持率已跌至35%。

美國決議

本月早些時候，日本首相安倍晉三聲稱日軍在二戰期間強徵婦女充當慰安婦這一說法缺乏證據，這一言論激怒了世界人民。

安倍的言論尤其遭到中國和韓國的強烈譴責，因爲戰時許多慰安婦都來自這兩個國家。

許多歷史學家都相信，日本在二戰期間曾強迫多達20萬的婦女充當慰安婦，這其中還有來自菲律賓、印度尼西亞和臺灣地區的女性。

然而一些日本保守黨成員狡辯說，這些婦女都是職業妓女，她們靠提供這種服務掙錢，而且任何虐待行爲都是私人承包商實施的而非日本軍隊。

在美國國會開始考慮出臺一項無約束力的決議，並督促東京政府對所謂的慰安婦進行明確的道歉時，安倍才拋出了“慰安婦是否爲強迫暫無定論”這一言論。

本報記者稱，日本官員對於首相應由海外政客告知該如何作出道歉這一說法表示反對。

他們聲稱，該決議草案並未認可日本政府先前對於慰安婦作出賠償的努力。

他們還強調說，安倍最近在議會所做的言論意圖澄清任何誤解，而非迫於外界壓力的影響。