U.S. lawmaker hopes Japan will resolve historical issues

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, set to take over as chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said Friday he hopes Japan will move beyond its wartime history.

"I think it would be in Japan's interest to put the past behind it," he said in reference to Yasukuni Shrine and Asian women who were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese military during the war.

Lantos, known to have a strong interest in human rights, sounded the warning against future visits to Yasukuni by prime ministers in an interview with a group of reporters from Asia.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated pilgrimages to the shrine angered China and South Korea. Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, had previously said that visits to Yasukuni are like laying a wreath at the graves of Nazi leaders.

Earlier this year, the House International Relations Committee passed a resolution condemning Japan's wartime use of "comfort women" and seeking an official apology. A full House vote on the resolution was blocked by the majority Republican Party.

Portraying the plight of such women, who were primarily from the Korean Peninsula, as a "sad case," Lantos said, "I don't think it's helpful to hide or try not to deal with the ugly chapters in any nation's history."