Former Liberal Democratic Party President Yohei Kono, who died Monday at the age of 89 due to pancreatic cancer, is widely known as the top government spokesperson who issued a landmark apology in 1993 over women who suffered under Japan¡¯s military brothel system before and during World War II, sparking a domestic and international controversy.
Kono, who had also served as Lower House speaker, was known as a dove in the LDP, and staunchly opposed revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. He was one of two LDP presidents who did not become prime minister.
On Aug. 4, 1993, when he was chief cabinet secretary under then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, Kono issued a statement expressing Japan¡¯s ¡°sincere apologies and remorse¡± over the ¡°comfort women¡± who were forced or coerced into sexual servitude under various circumstances, including abduction, deception and poverty.
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