Recognition and justice - a knawing problem in Asia as well

In today's New York Times, there were two interesting articles about recognition and justice. Both show quite clearly that the need for both by society is great, even when, as in these cases, over 60 years has passed since Japan forced thousands of women into sexual slavery, and 30 years has passed since the Cambodian genocide. They also show that in the case of the sex slaves, US Congress is being used to press for an apology by Japan, a US ally, despite the possibility of a negative reaction from the Japanese government. In this particular case, I'd like to know what percentage of the Japanese people even agree with their government.

In the case of the Cambodians, they are for the very first time charging someone with crimes during their internal genocide.

Here are some excerpts from the article about Japan. You can easily see Japan and Turkey being swapped, Armenians and the sex slaves, and WWII with WWI.

TOKYO, Wednesday, Aug. 1 — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed some irritation on Tuesday at the resolution approved by the House of Representatives in Washington that calls on Japan to acknowledge its wartime sex slavery. His reaction indicated strongly that the Japanese government would not offer surviving victims an official apology.

“The resolution’s approval was regrettable,” said Mr. Abe, who caused a furor in Asia and the United States in March by denying that the Japanese military had directly coerced women into sex slavery in World War II.

...

Asked whether he would comply with the House resolution’s demand for an official apology, Mr. Abe said: “The 20th century was an era in which human rights were violated. I would like to make the 21st century into an era with no human rights violations.”

On Monday, the House unanimously passed the nonbinding resolution strongly urging the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge” and “apologize” for its military’s “coercion of women into sexual slavery.” Japan had lobbied hard against the resolution in Washington, warning that it could harm relations.

Mr. Abe has expressed sympathy for the former sex slaves. But he has consistently refused to acknowledge the military’s role in directly coercing women into sex slavery despite historical evidence and the testimony of many of the women.

Some of the former sex slaves, known euphemistically as “comfort women” in Japan, and their advocates welcomed the resolution. But they expressed anger at Mr. Abe’s response.

“Abe denies that they were the ones who violated the women,” said Jan Ruff O’Herne, 84, a Dutch woman who was forced into sex slavery in Indonesia. “I didn’t expect anything better from him than that.”

“But this resolution puts enormous pressure on the Japanese government,” Ms. Ruff said by phone from her home in Adelaide, Australia. “I’m still hoping that something will happen because the women are getting old, and we deserve a proper apology.”

Gil Won-ok, 78, a South Korean who was forced into sex slavery in northeast China, said from Seoul, “Truth survives and lies never win.”

Parliament has never endorsed an official apology and acknowledgment of its sex slavery, the central demand in the House resolution, though past prime ministers have issued letters of apology to some former sex slaves.

This spring, Mr. Abe rejected any demand for an apology. But since then, he has avoided discussing the issue in detail. He has repeated that many human rights violations occurred in the last century, angering former sex slaves and their supporters who say his comments were meant to play down Japan’s crimes.

“Abe really does not know his history,” said Nelia Sancho, leader of Lolas Kampanyera, a group supporting former sex slaves in Manila. “In order to create a world without human rights violations, each state has to learn from its past mistakes and, most importantly, it has to redress its past violations. Until that is done, the 21st century will not become an era with no human rights violations.”

So we are not that unique - here are two cases where people many decades after the event simply cannot abide with the lies, the injustice, and wouldn't let anybody tell them that it's all history and past and should simply be forgotten/put aside.