LDP's Nishida Refuses to Retract Remarks over WWII Exhibits

   Tokyo, May 8 (Jiji Press)--Shoji Nishida of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has refused to withdraw his remarks over exhibits about "Himeyuri" nursing corps who died in the fierce Battle of Okinawa in the final phase of World War II.
   At a symposium held in Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, on Saturday, Nishida said that descriptions at a monument to commemorate the Himeyuri corps of female students rewrote the history, according to informed sources.
   Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday, Nishida said that he had no intention of hurting the feelings of the people of Okinawa, while refusing to retract the remarks in question.
   While saying in a speech during the symposium that he was not familiar with the current exhibits at the monument, Nishida said the "descriptions seem to suggest that Japanese soldiers stormed into (Okinawa), leading the Himeyuri corps to die."
   "Then the U.S. troops came to set Okinawa free," he said of the descriptions.

(2025/05/08-14:50)