Abe: “I didn’t apologize”

IT’S BAD FORM to say, “I told you so,” but Reuters reveals that when reporters traveling with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his trip to the Middle East asked him if he still thought that there was no evidence that comfort women were coerced by the military, he replied (italics mine):

“I think that my thoughts and feelings were not relayed correctly (at first), and I explained this to congressional leaders, who I believe understood…I did not apologize to the United States. I only clearly expressed my feelings.“

Stiffed yet again by the prime minister. You can almost sense the media taking a step back to reappraise him. Reuters notes:

The issue had threatened to shadow Abe’s meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington last week…

…but that was before it was discovered that Mr. Abe is not susceptible to American-style media and political pressures. (In fact, I suspect he secretly enjoyed giving them a shot from the elbow rifle, which is the Japanese expression for a rebuff.)

Reuters also reports that Abe denied speculation that he might dissolve Japan’s Lower House and hold a double election in July in conjunction with the regularly scheduled Upper House election. The prime minister said he had “absolutely no intention” of doing so.

Abe’s party and its coalition partner have a huge majority in the Lower House. (I think it’s the second highest in postwar history.) Of course he’s not going to dissolve it. Anyone who even briefly thought he might should have his license to speculate revoked.

I couldn’t find the article online; search engines are flooded with stories about revising Japan’s Constitution. (More on that later.)