Documents of Japanese Government and the AWF

Documents of the Japanese Government and the Asian Women's Fund

Statement of AWF Vice-President Nobuo Ishihara on the End of Project in South Korea (Excerpt)

20 February, 2002

"Atonement Projects" of the Asian Women's Fund in the Philippines, Korea, and Taiwan have been carried out with a fixed term. Each project was planned to be completed after five years.
While the Atonement Project in Korea was launched in January 11, 1997, the AWF Board of Directors decided to suspend the project on July 30, 1999 after taking all the circumstances into consideration, particularly the opposition to the project in Korea. For this reason, at the meeting on December 17, 2001, the Board of Directions decided that the project would continue to be suspended after January 10, 2002, the initial date of conclusion.
Then, after protracted negotiations and consultations with various quarters, the Board of Directors met on February 15. It recognized the difficulty of changing the current situation and decided to cancel the suspension as of February 20, 2002. This means that the project in Korea will be concluded on May 1, 2002, when entire "Atonement Project" is expected to finish.
Although the project will come to an end soon, our resolution is to express the deep repentance of both the Japanese government and the Japanese people toward the former "comfort women," who have taught us a lesson in history.