Two Korean former sex slaves have canceled a meeting with an outspoken Japanese mayor who last week said Japan’s wartime practice of using many Asian women as prostitutes was necessary to maintain military discipline.
The United States on Thursday denounced as “outrageous” comments by an outspoken Japanese mayor who said “comfort women” forced to provide sex during World War II were a military necessity.
The maverick mayor of Osaka on Thursday offered to meet former “comfort women” to apologize for their suffering after causing an international storm when he said they served a “necessary” role in wartime.
Besides overseas Filipino workers in the North Korean and South Korea, the war veterans in the Philippines are more worried over the ongoing conflict between the two neighboring nations.
Amid persistent talk about Manila’s contingency plan in case of a full-scale war in the Korean Peninsula, Korean Embassy officials said Wednesday that there is “no reason for alarm” as tension between Pyongyang and Seoul is starting to subside.
Malacañang said on Sunday the possible return of United States military bases to the country as stated by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was a “mere scenario in case of an extreme emergency” arising from the Korean crisis.
The only thing the Philippines can do in case of an environmental, health and agricultural devastation in the face of North Korean threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States and Pyongyang’s neighbors is draft a risk management strategy, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday warned of “severe damage” that the Philippines could suffer from nuclear warfare should the situation in the Korean peninsula escalate.
Seeing no imminent outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Saturday postponed a trip to Seoul as foreign diplomats in Pyongyang huddled to discuss a North Korean evacuation advisory that had sparked fears the isolated state was preparing to launch attacks on the South and the United States.
The escalating tension between North and South Korea has not affected the ongoing preparations for the 6th Asian Youth Day (AYD), which will be held in Daejeon, South Korea, next year.
The Philippines as a treaty ally should help the United States if it is attacked by North Korea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Friday.
President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said there was no “imminent threat ” yet to start the evacuation of about 40,000 Filipinos in the tense Korean Peninsula.
