Japan’s Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda said textbook publishers will be able to revise the term “military-following comfort women” in books that have already been approved to be used in schools. 

Speaking before the Japanese Diet on Monday, Hagiuda apparently was suggesting that publishers revise the term which is used to refer to the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. 

His comment came after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the Japanese government’s decision to take “military” out of “military-following comfort women” will immediately be applied to textbooks. 

With such remarks, Suga apparently has agreed with right-wing lawmakers’ view that the expression “military-following comfort women” is inappropriate as it connotes the image of being forcibly conscripted by the military.

In a Cabinet meeting held on April 27, the Japanese government adopted the view that it is appropriate to use “comfort women” instead of “military-following comfort women,” citing concerns over misunderstandings.

With his latest comments, Hagiuda apparently was pressuring textbook publishers to revise books they have already authorized to adopt the term "comfort women."