NEWS
Japan’s former Prime Minister, Tomiichi Murayama, remembered globally for his historic apology over Japan’s wartime aggression has died at the age of 101. Murayama , who served as prime minister from 1994 to 1996, passed away on Friday at 11:28 a.m. in a hospital in Oita City , according to Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party , the successor to Murayama’s now-defunct Socialist Party.
Hiroyuki Takano , the party’s secretary general in Oita, confirmed to AFP that the veteran politician died of old age.Murayama is best known for the landmark 1995 statement issued on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II . In that message, he expressed “deep remorse” and offered a “heartfelt apology” for Japan’s colonial rule and wartime aggression across Asia.
“Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations,” the statement read.
The “ Murayama Statement ” became a cornerstone of Japan’s postwar diplomacy , with later prime ministers echoing his words of remorse during subsequent anniversaries marking the end of the war.
