Ex-Japan Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono Dies at 89

Tokyo, June 10 (Jiji Press)--Yohei Kono, former speaker of Japan's House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, who is also known to have written a landmark 1993 statement over wartime comfort women, died on Monday at the age of 89, people close to him said Wednesday.

A native of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, Kono was a leading dove within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and championed stable ties with Asian neighbors of Japan, including China and South Korea.

He also served as LDP president when the party was an opposition party and as foreign minister.

As chief cabinet secretary in 1993 under the administration of then Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, Kono issued the landmark statement, which expressed the Japanese government's "sincere apologies and remorse" to those who served as prostitutes for Japanese troops before and during World War II after the issue emerged as a major diplomatic and political challenge.

Some conservatives contend that the statement encouraged subsequent demands from South Korea over wartime issues.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]