Japan gov't-appointed panel to discuss what Abe should say in statement to mark WWII's end
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Japanese government-appointed panel of experts will hold its first meeting Wednesday to discuss what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should say in a closely watched statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Japan issued a landmark apology on the 50th anniversary in 1995, acknowledging for the first time its colonization and aggression in Asia before and during the war, followed by a similar apology in 2005.
The question now is whether Abe will repeat the apologies in a statement he's expected to make on the Aug. 15 anniversary of the war's end.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Abe now says he stands by the 1995 apology, known as the Murayama statement. But his plan to issue a new statement is raising suspicion that he will water down the apology.