Japan should gain trust from Asian neighbors

Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, known for his apology for past wartime atrocities while in office, said Tuesday that Japan should gain trust from Asian neighbors, stressing the need for Japan's fulfillment of its past apology. Murayama, who came here for a three-day visit at the invitation of South Korea's minor opposition Justice Party, visited the parliamentary headquarters where an exhibition of artworks by former South Korean "comfort women" is being held. At the exhibition, the former Japanese prime minister met three South Korean women who were coerced into sex slaves at the Japanese military brothel during the World War II, when more than 200,000 young women, many of them South Koreans, were forced into the sex slavery. He became the first among incumbent and former Japanese prime ministers who meet with the victims of the sex slavery. Murayama made an official apology via the famous "Murayama Statement"in 1995, when he was in office, for Japan's past atrocities and war of aggression during its colonial rule of Asian nations. After touring the exhibition, Murayama held a dinner meeting with the Justice Party lawmakers where he said the official apology was made because he believed it was necessary to gain trust from Asian countries for Japan to go in a right way in the future. "I was hailed much in Korea. I believe it was a warm-hearted assessment on the Murayama Statement,"he said."It also means rebuke for Japan's negligence of the Murayama Statement amid the strained ties between Japan and Korea." Murayama said that it will not be an end to announce the statement, noting that it is important to crystallize the statement into action and make efforts to gain more trust. " Nobody can deny the Murayama Statement. It is the basis of Japan' s development," said Murayama. "All previous prime ministers of Japan said they succeeded the Murayama Statement. Many Asian nations, including Korea and China, are aware of this, so signs of improved relations (between Japan and Asian countries) were shown." When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formed his first cabinet from 2006 to 2007, Abe said he succeeded the statement, Murayama said, noting that some noise has been heard since the second Abe cabinet was launched in late 2012.