His remarks have come under fire by the international community as a grave abuse of women's rights. Japanese women, too, criticized him as a villain bereft of an iota of humanity, demanding him retract the remarks and resign from office.

In January 2007, Yanagisawa, the then Japanese minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, described women as a tool giving birth to child, touching off public outcry.

During the Second World War, Japan committed a state-sponsored crime of forcing sexual slavery for the Japanese army upon a great number of women of many countries.

At that time, the Japanese army instructed its soldiers to kill all pregnant women in enemy countries.

In particular, they drafted as sexual slaves more than 200 000 Korean women, including teenagers. They even burnt to death those drafted women when they were infected with diseases.

Enraged at this heinous crime, parliaments of various countries including the United States adopted resolutions critical of it and the world people have lifted their voice demanding an apology and reparation for the crime.

Nevertheless, the reactionaries of Japan have not yet repented and apologized for it, far from making reparation. Instead, its high-ranking officials vie with each other in embellishing the crime-woven past.

This is a revelation of Japan's wrong mode of politics as well as the view of its politicians steeped in militarism to the marrow.

Japan should lend an ear to the voices of world community and honestly settle its crime-woven past.