PATERSON, N.J. – Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) issued a statement on the historic accord reached between South Korea and Japan regarding so-called 'comfort women' who were held in sexual slavery by Japan’s Imperial Army during World War II.

"I want to applaud the governments of both South Korea and Japan for completing this historic joint announcement, a giant step forward for relations between two key allies across the Pacific," Rep. Pascrell said. "While not an end to the suffering that these women endured, with the formal apology from Japan, the historical truth of this atrocity can no longer be denied or forgotten. That is at the heart of the progress made today."

Pascrell represents the Borough of Palisades Park, which is home to the first monument dedicated to the comfort women in the United States. He is also a former member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and has been critical of Japan's recognition of the issue over the years.

Pascrell proudly cosponsored the comfort women resolution, H. Res. 121, which called for the Japanese government to acknowledge and apologize for their Imperial military’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery during the 1930s and 1940s. This resolution was passed by voice vote on July 30, 2007.

Pascrell was also one of only a few members of Congress that spoke at a reception in Washington hosted by Japanese American Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA-17) and Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE) commemorating the fifth anniversary of H.R. 121.

Last June, Pascrell and 17 colleagues sent a bipartisan letter to the Ambassador of Japan to the United States calling the timing and contents of a Japanese government report on the Kono Statement about the sexual enslavement of over 200,000 women by the Japanese Army during World War II “regrettable and unfortunate.” The Kono Statement, issued by the Japanese government in 1993, acknowledged the Japanese Army’s sexual enslavement of women, but did not offer a formal apology. The 2014 report investigated the circumstances of the crafting of that statement.

"I will continue my work with my colleagues in Congress to strengthen our relationships with South Korea and Japan and to work for the cause of human rights around the world," Pascrell said.