On the recordApril 21, 2015
As the United States continues to work with Japan to promote peace and prosperity throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the broader global community, it is my hope that Prime Minister Abe's visit next week will lay the foundation for healing and humble reconciliation by addressing the historical issue of the comfort women. I look forward to hearing from the Prime Minister for Japan is a close friend and ally, as is South Korea. We want to encourage our close friends and allies to communicate and to foster an ability to work together productively. That is why I am proud to cosponsor resolutions in the United States Congress to urge the Japanese Government to formally acknowledge and apologize for their Imperial Military's coercion of young women into sexual slavery during the thirties and forties. The recognition of these events by the Japanese Government, through the report released last year on the Kono Statement, takes a step backward in taking full responsibility for the immeasurable pain and incurable wounds suffered by the comfort women. As a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, I will continue to work every day to ensure that our children and our children's children will inherit a world where these types of atrocities are a thing of the past. Mr. Speaker, Mike Honda, who will be speaking in a little while, has kept this hope alive. ____________________
