Former Japanese PM Murayama, known for apology over wartime aggression, dies at 101

"TOKYO Japan's former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who was known for his 1995 "Murayama statement" apologizing to Asian victims of his country's aggression, died Friday. He was 101. Murayama died at a hospital in his hometown Oita, southwestern Japan, according to a statement by Mizuho Fukushima, the head of Japan's Social Democratic Party. As head of what was then known as the Japan Socialist Party, Murayama led a coalition government from June 1994 to January 1996."

""During a certain period in the not too distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war ... and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations," he said in the statement. "In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.""

Tomiichi Murayama, a former Japanese prime minister and longtime socialist lawmaker, died at age 101 in Oita. He served as leader of a coalition government from June 1994 to January 1996 after election to parliament in 1972 following work for a labor union and a local assembly. Murayama issued the 1995 "Murayama statement," a formal apology acknowledging Japan's colonial rule and wartime aggression and expressing deep remorse. As prime minister he publicly recognized the Japan-U.S. security alliance and the Self-Defense Forces as constitutional, breaking with his party's traditional stance. He faced major crises in 1995, including the Kobe earthquake and the Tokyo subway gas attack.

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