Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed up the chance to help heal the wounds of Japan′s wartime past on Monday，... choosing to offer no clear apology for his country′s sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of Korean and Asian women during World War II.
Kim Hyun－bin reports.
Given his track record on the issue，... it didn′t come as a major surprise that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe maintained his vague stance on history during a lecture at Harvard University on Monday.
Addressing the audience，... Abe said he had feelings of remorse for the victims of wartime sexual slavery，... but worded it in a way that didn′t identify Japan as the perpetrator.

″With regard to the comfort women issue， my heart aches when I think about the people who were victimized by human trafficking and who were subject to immeasurable pain and suffering， beyond description. On this score my feeling is no different from my predecessor prime ministers.″
Watchers say Abe′s remark was carefully calculated so as not to deviate from his administration′s existing position of not directly acknowledging Japan′s responsibility for its wartime atrocities.
Outside the auditorium， dozens of students and other protesters， including Lee Yong－soo ， one of the surviving sexual slavery victims， held a rally， urging Abe to apologize for Japan′s past wrongdoings.
Historians say tens of thousands of women from Korea and other Asian countries were taken by the Japanese military to serve troops before and during World War II.
Japan′s lack of a genuine apology for its treatment of the women has seen relations between Seoul and Tokyo hit fresh lows in recent years.
Abe will become the first Japanese leader to give a speech to a joint session of U.S. Congress on Wednesday， but many critics say it was a mistake bestowing Abe the honor because of his distorted views on Japan′s wartime atrocities.
To many observers，... the Japanese prime minister′s lack of remorse for wartime sexual slavery during his speech on Monday is a clear indication Abe will offer no clear or genuine apology for his country′s past wrongdoings during his highly anticipated speech to U.S. Congress.
Kim Hyun－bin， Arirang News.

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