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Coming up today,.. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes no apology for Japan′s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women,... sticking instead to a vague reference to the women′s suffering.
The United States and Japan announce new defense cooperation guidelines that will significantly boost Japan′s military role in Northeast Asia,... raising concerns of a return to Japanese militarism.
Plus,.. rescue efforts in Nepal are continuing after a powerful earthquake killed more than four-thousand people. Stay tuned for these stories and more.
Hello.... to our viewers around the world, it′s 6 a.m. on Tuesday, April twenty-eighth here in Seoul.
Thanks for joining us,... I′m Mark Broome.
Title: Abe fails to issue apology for Japan′s wartime sexual enslavement
Our top story this morning...
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.
Giving a lecture at Harvard University on Monday, Abe maintained his vague stance on history.
He only said he has feelings of remorse for the women... but put in a way that didn′t identify Japan as the perpetrator.
Reuters: edit no. 1205 soundbite
"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."
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 the 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.
Title: U.S., Japan announces new defense cooperation guidelines
The United States and Japan have unveiled a new defense cooperation pact, designed to significantly expand Japan′s military role in the region and beyond.
The agreement came after a ′two-plus-two′ meeting of defense and foreign ministers of the two countries in New York on Monday.
The new Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation eliminates geographic restrictions that had largely limited Tokyo′s defense work, while allowing for global cooperation, ranging from defense against ballistic missile, cyber and space attacks as well as maritime security.
The resolution also allows Japan to exercise of the right to "collective self-defense," namely coming to the military aid of an ally under attack.
The two countries dismissed Korea′s concern that the move is Japan′s attempt to amend its pacifist constitution, saying they will act "in accordance with international law."
Title: Fitch downgrades Japan′s credit rating
Japa