Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is coming under mounting pressure to defuse his revisionist views and embrace a more repentant attitude toward wartime history as some activists seek to submit a petition against his envisaged plan to address U.S. Congress this year.

The Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, a group consisting chiefly of Korean-American scholars and activists based in the U.S. capital, said it plans to send a letter to Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, the speaker of the House, the president of the Senate and the White House, while carrying out a campaign to encourage other citizens to follow suit. 

With Abe expected to visit as early as late April, Tokyo and Washington are believed to be discussing a possible speech on Capitol Hill, which will be the first by a Japanese premier since 1961 and unprecedented before members of both chambers jointly.

In the dispatch, the organization pointed to the ultraconservative premier’s ongoing attempts to deny atrocities during World War II, including worshipping at the controversial Yasukuni war shrine during a visit alongside other high-level officials and politicians, and earmarking massive funds for whitewashing historical records.

It called the move an “insult” to U.S. veterans and those who lost their loved ones during the six-year battle, as well as the victims of Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women.

“We’re not simply opposing his address to the Congress per se, but trying to extract a sincere apology and introspection from him,” said Lee Jung-sil, an art history professor at George Washington University who chairs the coalition.

“We will deliver clearly our message that they ought not to accept his speech unless he apologizes for and reflects on the past.”

The organization’s drive adds to soaring criticism of Abe’s unabashed management of sensitive historical issues among scholars at home and overseas.

Early this month, a group of 19 U.S. historians staged strong protests after Tokyo was found to have pressed schoolbook publisher McGraw-Hill to alter the description of its wartime sexual slavery. In their joint statement, they said “no government should have the right to censor history” and displayed opposition to “the efforts of states or special interests to pressure publishers or historians to alter the results of their research for political purposes.”

Their intensifying calls appear to have little chance of inducing a change in Abe’s position given his deep-rooted political belief but could exert pressure on the U.S., though White House officials have said that the premier will be treated in line with the diplomatic protocols for a “state visit.”

In 2006, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sought a congressional address but it did not materialize in the face of stiff resistance over his historical perception by some lawmakers including the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But Abe could manage to push ahead with his cause if he makes concessions in other key areas as the allies are currently in negotiations on an Asia-Pacific free trade pact called the Trans Pacific Partnership, and an amendment of their bilateral defense guidelines.

Only three Japanese leaders have addressed the U.S. Congress so far, including Shigeru Yoshida in 1954, Nobusuke Kishi in 1957 and Hayato Ikeda in 1961.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)