Japanese ex-chief secretary who tried to resolve sex slave issue dies

Kozo Igarashi, a former Japanese chief cabinet secretary who worked to resolve issues regarding the “comfort women,” who were forced by Japan into sexual slavery during World War II, died of pneumonia at a Sapporo hospital on Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported. He was 87.

Igarashi was chief cabinet secretary in the administration of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who apologized for Japan’s colonial rule and invasion of neighboring countries. 

During his tenure as chief cabinet secretary from June 1994 to August 1995, he pushed to create a fund for comfort women, though the fund did not materialize. He was also involved in enacting a bill to integrate aid to survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings.

On April 24, Azuma Konno, a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, who worked to settle historical disputes between Korea and Japan, died of a chronic illness at 66.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)