Leaders of Japanese opposition parties have urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to uphold the Murayama Statement that offers an apology to Asian countries for Japan's wartime atrocities.
Abe said during a TV appearance earlier in the day that his planned new statement, expected to be issued at the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, would change key wording like "colonial rule" and "aggression" in the 1995 Murayama Statement.
Many leaders believe the form of expression used in the Murayama statement had significant meaning and should be given respect, and that Abe's remarks are intolerable.
Then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said in a statement in 1995 that Japan caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of Asia and other countries through its colonial rule and aggression.
