Each time South Korea and outlets such as the Asahi Shimbun raised the comfort women issue, successive Japanese governments issued apologies through the Kono Statement, the Asian Women’s Fund, and prime ministerial letters.
These actions, intended as reconciliation, instead entrenched international misunderstandings about Japan’s wartime conduct and culminated in the Japan–ROK agreement, leaving Japan diplomatically disadvantaged.

However, in reality, whenever South Korea, in concert with the Asahi Shimbun and others, raised the comfort women issue, those in charge of government at the time
2018-01-29
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
However, in reality, whenever South Korea, acting in tandem with outlets such as the Asahi Shimbun, turned the comfort women issue into a political matter, successive government leaders continued to apologize to former comfort women through the Kono Statement, the Asian Women’s Fund, and letters of apology from prime ministers.
And the latest Japan–ROK agreement was one in which even compensation payments were drawn from taxpayers’ money as a sign of apology.
Such actions by Japan are never understood by the United States and other foreign nations.
No matter how much Japan explains that the comfort women were not “sex slaves” but wartime prostitutes who received payment, it is always countered by the argument that “Japan has already apologized,” citing the Kono Statement and similar measures.
Even after the Asahi Shimbun in 2014, under the Abe administration, retracted its reporting on forced recruitment and it became clear that the Kono Statement had been issued as a political consideration toward South Korea, the statement itself was never rescinded.
If one examines the full course of events in detail, it becomes clear that what is truly shameful is not only South Korea, but also Japan, which trusted South Korea and staged an agreement that made the Asahi Shimbun virtually dance with delight.
To be continued.