{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=576", "Connolly Statement on Prime Minister Abe's Apology and Compensation Offer to South Korean \"Comfort Women\" Victims", "2015-12-28", "2015", "2015-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Gerald Connolly", "C001078", "connolly.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Connolly Statement on Prime Minister Abe's Apology and Compensation Offer to South Korean \"Comfort Women\" Victims \r\n   \r\n    \r\n       \r\n      \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e\r\n      \r\n      \r\n    \r\n    \r\n      \r\n        Washington, DC,\r\n        December 28, 2015\r\n      \r\n       \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      \r\n      \r\n        Congressman Gerry Connolly, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea, released the following statement in response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's apology and compensation offer to South Korean \"Comfort Women\" victims. Read more.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea, released the following statement in response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s apology and compensation offer to South Korean \u201cComfort Women\u201d victims:\u201cI welcome the long overdue apology for the \u201cComfort Women\u201d and hopefully the beginning of a new chapter in South Korea-Japan relations. The plight of the \u201cComfort Women\u201d is a matter of historical record, and Prime Minister Abe\u2019s actions today should help offer these women and their families the dignity and respect they deserve.\u201dCongressman Connolly is co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea and a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittee on the Asia-Pacific. Connolly has supported legislation that called on the Government of Japan to accept responsibility for World War II era transgressions, namely the coercion of women into sexual slavery. The legislation also urged the Prime Minister to issue a public statement in his official capacity apologizing for the enslavement and trafficking of women. In 2014, Connolly wrote to the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. to express his profound disappointment that the Government of Japan had conducted a review of a statement issued by Japan\u2019s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993 acknowledging the coercion of \u201cComfort Women\u201d into sexual servitude by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces. In the letter, Connolly noted that any effort to diminish the suffering experienced by the \u201cComfort Women\u201d or undermine the Japanese government\u2019s subsequent contrition is deeply regrettable. \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=576"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7144641131162643, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}