The deterioration of Japan–Korea relations over the comfort women issue is widely linked to the Asahi Shimbun’s misreporting, which spread the “sex slave” narrative worldwide.
Despite this, the newspaper continues to criticize the Japanese government without sufficient reflection.
The March issue of Seiron features Tsutomu Nishioka and others discussing media responsibility and freedom of speech.

The Asahi Shimbun, in its editorial, criticized the Abe administration, saying that “it is inappropriate to behave as if everything has been resolved by the agreement.”
2018-01-31.
The following article appeared on page 22 of yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun.
It is an introduction to the contents of the March issue of the monthly magazine Seiron, to be released tomorrow.
All emphasis in the text, except for the headline, is mine.
Where is the reflection on the comfort women misreport.
■The sins and punishment of the Asahi Shimbun that produced a dark Korea■.
South Korea is once again reopening the issue of the Japan–Korea comfort women agreement.
Moreover, although it is clear that South Korea is at fault for failing to honor an international promise, the Asahi Shimbun criticizes the Abe administration in its editorial, saying that “it is inappropriate to behave as if everything has been resolved by the agreement.”
Behind the deterioration of Japan–Korea relations to this extent lies the fact that the Asahi Shimbun’s misreporting triggered the global spread of the misconception that “comfort women = sex slaves.”
Does the Asahi Shimbun have no reflection on this.
In the March issue, this problem is thoroughly discussed by Tsutomu Nishioka, visiting professor at Reitaku University, and Ryubi Abiru, editorial writer of the Sankei Shimbun.
Nishioka criticizes the Asahi, saying, “The Asahi stands on high and takes an attitude as if to say ‘both sides are childish,’ implying Japan is also at fault. This must not be done.”
Abiru also refers to the issue of the Asahi Shimbun protesting against literary critic Eitaro Ogawa and this magazine, arguing that “for a media organization to abandon fighting with words is self-denial.”
The March issue also features novelist Naoki Hyakuta, who likewise received protests from the Asahi Shimbun.
When he criticized the Asahi’s reporting and its readers on Twitter, the public relations department protested that his remarks were “discriminatory,” to which Hyakuta responded with a fierce rebuttal.
Half a year after the Sankei Shimbun raised the abduction issue with an article titled “Three couples mysteriously vanished—on the coasts of Fukui, Niigata, and Kagoshima—foreign intelligence agencies involved?”, the Asahi Shimbun published a shocking article under the headline, “Are North Korean spies really spies?”
Korean Peninsula analyst Nangu Abe exposes this.
(Kenryo Mizokami).