Expressing the sense of Congress concerning the war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World War II.

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. GREEN, Mr. HILL, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. ACKERMAN, and Mr. YATES) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

Expressing the sense of Congress concerning the war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World War II.

Whereas during World War II the Government of Japan deliberately ignored and flagrantly violated the Geneva and Hague Conventions and committed atrocious crimes against humanity;

Whereas 33,587 members of the United States Armed Forces and 13,966 United States civilians were captured by the Japanese military in the Pacific Theater during World War II, confined in brutal prison camps, and subjected to severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic necessities;

Whereas many of the United States military and civilian prisoners of the Japanese military during World War II were subjected to forced labor, starved and beaten to death, or summarily executed by beheading, firing squads, or immolation;

Whereas almost all of the United States military and civilian prisoners who were rescued from the Japanese military at the end of World War II were afflicted with diseases caused by malnutrition and deprivation and have suffered from life-long illnesses, psychological and emotional trauma, and financial hardships as a result of their experience during the war;

Whereas, of the United States prisoners held by the German military during World War II, 1.1 percent of the military prisoners and 3.5 percent of the civilian prisoners died during their imprisonment, but of the United States prisoners held by the Japanese military, 37.3 percent of the military prisoners and 11 percent of the civilian prisoners died during their imprisonment;

Whereas on December 8, 1941, the Japanese military bombed and invaded the island of Guam and occupied the island until the liberation of Guam by the United States Armed Forces on July 21, 1944;

Whereas the people of Guam were subjected to death, beheadings, rape and other violent acts, forced labor and marches, and imprisonment by the Japanese military during the occupation of Guam during World War II;

Whereas at the Japanese biochemical warfare detachment in Mukden, Manchuria, commanded by Dr. Shiro Ishii, experiments were conducted on living prisoners of war that included infecting prisoners with deadly toxins, including plague, anthrax, typhoid, and cholera;

Whereas at least 260 of the 1,500 United States prisoners believed to have been held at Mukden died during the first winter of their imprisonment and many of the 300 living survivors of Mukden claim to suffer from physical ailments resulting from their subjection to chemical and biological experiments;

Whereas the Japanese military invaded Nanjing, China, from December, 1937, until February, 1938, during the period known as the `Rape of Nanjing', and brutally and systematically slaughtered more than 300,000 Chinese men, women, and children and raped more than 20,000 women;

Whereas the Japanese military enslaved millions of Koreans during World War II and forced hundreds of thousands of women into sexual slavery for Japanese troops;

Whereas international jurists in Geneva, Switzerland ruled in 1993 that women who were forced to be sexual slaves of the Japanese military during World War II (known by the Japanese military as `comfort women') deserve at least $40,000 each as compensation for their `extreme pain and suffering';

Whereas the Government of Germany has formally apologized to the victims of the Holocaust and gone to great lengths to provide financial compensation to the victims and to provide for their needs and recovery; and

Whereas by contrast the Government of Japan has refused to fully acknowledge the crimes it committed during World War II and to provide reparations to its victims: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the Government of Japan should--

          (1)  formally issue a clear and unambiguous apology for the atrocious war crimes committed by the
                Japanese military during World War II; and

          (2)  immediately pay reparations to the victims of those crimes, including United States military and
                 civilian prisoners of war, people of Guam who were subjected to violence and imprisonment,
                 survivors of the `Rape of Nanjing' from December, 1937, until February, 1938, and the women who
                 were forced into sexual slavery and known by the Japanese military as `comfort women'.

Source:
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/JapanIncorporated/1895-1945/hcr98126.htm