Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will not review Japan's historic apology for the army's use of wartime sex slaves, made by previous administrations, his government announced. "We must be humble about history. It should not be politicized or turned into a diplomatic issue," Abe said. During the war more than 200,000 Asian women were served in its brothels by Imperial Japanese Army troops. China and South Korea have accused Japan of trying to rewrite history. Historical Truth Comfort women were women and girls forced into a prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The name "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese name ianfu (慰安婦). Ianfu is a euphemism for shōfu (娼婦) meaning "prostitute(s)". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Estimates vary on the number of women involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 to as high as 200,000, or even as high as 360,000 to 410,000, but the exact numbers are still a subject of research and debate. Many of the women came from occupied countries, including Korea, China, and the Philippines, although women from Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and other Japanese-occupied territories were used for military "comfort stations." The stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau and French Indochina. A smaller number of women of European descent from the Netherlands and Australia were also involved. Young women from countries under Japanese imperial control were reportedly kidnapped from their homes. In many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants. Once recruited, women were incarcerated in "comfort stations" in foreign lands. Japanese Military Prostitution Military correspondence from the Imperial Japanese Army shows that the goal of facilitating comfort stations was the prevention of rape crimes committed by Japanese Army personnel and thus the prevention of increased hostility between people in the areas busy. Given the well-organized and open nature of prostitution in Japan, it was considered logical that there would be organized prostitution to serve the Japanese military. The Japanese military established comfort stations to prevent venereal disease and rape by Japanese soldiers, to provide comfort to soldiers, and to ward off espionage. However, comfort stations did not represent a real solution to the first two problems. According to Japanese historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi, they worsened the problems. Yoshimi stated, "The Japanese Imperial Army feared most of all that the latent discontent of the soldiers might explode into a riot and revolt. That is why it supplied women." Description The first "comfort station" was established in the Japanese Concession in Shanghai in 1932. The first comfort women were Japanese prostitutes who volunteered for such service. However, as Japan continued its military expansion, the army found itself short of Japanese volunteers and turned to the local population to force women to serve at these stations. Many women responded to requests for work as workers or nurses and did not know they were being forced into sexual slavery. In the early stages of the war, Japanese authorities recruited prostitutes through conventional means. In urban areas,Conventional advertising through intermediaries was used along with kidnappings. The intermediaries advertised in newspapers circulating in Japan and in the Japanese colonies of Korea, Taiwan, Manchukuo, and China. These sources soon ran out, especially from Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs opposed the further issuing of travel visas for Japanese prostitutes, believing that it would tarnish the image of the Japanese Empire. The military looked to acquire comfort women outside of mainland Japan, especially from Korea and occupied China. Many women were tricked or defrauded into joining military brothels. The situation worsened as the war progressed. Under the strain of the war effort, the military was no longer able to provide sufficient supplies to Japanese units; in response, units made up the difference by begging or looting supplies from locals. On the front lines, especially in the countryside where intermediaries were rare, the military often asked local leaders directly to procure women for brothels. When locals, especially Chinese, were considered hostile, Japanese soldiers implemented the "three-all policy," which involved the indiscriminate kidnapping and rape of local civilians. The U.S. Office of War Information report on interviews with 20 comfort women in Burma found that the girls were lured by the offer of lots of money, the opportunity to pay off family debts, easy work and the prospect of a new life in a country. new land, Singapore. Based on these false statements, many girls signed up for overseas service and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen. Treatment of Comfort Women About three-quarters of the comfort women died, and most survivors were left sterile due to sexual trauma or sexually transmitted disease. According to Japanese soldier Yasuji Kaneko. "The women screamed, but we did not care whether they lived or died. We were soldiers of the emperor. Whether in military brothels or in villages, we raped without reluctance." Beatings and physical torture were said to be common. Japanese revisionist historian Ikuhiko Hata states that Kaneko's testimony is false as she testified about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre but was not in the army until 1940. Ten Dutch women were forcibly taken from Java prison camps by Dutch officers. Imperial Japanese Army to be forced into sex slavery in February 1944. They were systematically beaten and raped day and night in a so-called "Comfort Station". As a victim of the incident, in 1990, Jan Ruff-O'Herne testified before a committee of the United States House of Representatives: "Many stories have been told of the horrors, brutality, suffering and starvation of the Dutch women in the camps of Japanese captivity. But one story has never been told, the most shameful story of the worst human rights abuse committed by the Japanese during World War II: the story of the "Comfort Women", the jugun ianfu, and how these women They were forcibly seized against their will, to provide sexual services to the Japanese Imperial Army. In the so-called “Comfort Station” I was systematically beaten and raped at night. Even the Japanese doctor raped me every time he visited the brothel to examine us venereal diseases." During their first morning at the brothel, photographs were taken of Jan Ruff-O'Herne and the others and placed on the veranda which was used as a reception area for Japanese staff who would choose from these photographs. Over the next four months the girls were raped and beaten day and night, and.