LDP group to reinvestigate sex slave issues

A group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a government request that they reinvestigate the facts that gave birth to a 1993 official statement apologizing for the Japanese military's forced recruitment of women to provide sex for servicemen during World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the group's chair, Nariaki Nakayama, have differed over which side should conduct the investigation, but ultimately the group conceded to the wishes of Abe and his aides, who are hoping to act in a "cautious" manner ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's planned visit to Japan in April, group members said. The move to reinvestigate the so-called "comfort women" comes amid Abe's recent controversial remarks disputing the Japanese military's role in wartime sexual slavery as well as arguments by some LDP lawmakers that the 1993 statement should be retracted because the military did not force foreign women into sexual slavery.