Yōhei Kōno
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Yōhei Kōno (河野洋平 Kōno Yōhei, born January 15, 1937 in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa) is a Japanese politician. He has been the speaker of House of Representatives since November 2003, and as of November 2008, he served the speaker for the longest length since the set up of House of Representatives in 1890[1].
[edit] History
Kono is the eldest son of Ichiro Kono, a former minister dealing with the Tokyo Olympic Games. Kenzo Kono, the chairman of the House of Councillors is his younger uncle.
After graduating from Waseda University, Kono worked with the Marubeni company. In 1967, Kono's political career began due to the death of his father.
[edit] Political Careers
He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1994-95. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He was once President of the LDP from 1993 to 1995. As he is one of the pro-Chinese members of the LDP, he came under pressure domestically in the spring of 2005 when anti-Japanese movements in China became intense.
Kono is well known as a controversial figure within the so-called comfort women debate, for the official statement he made in 1993, when he was Chief Cabinet Secretary. In his statement, made after historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi announced he had discovered in the Defense Agency library in Tokyo documentary evidence that the Imperial Japanese Army established and ran "comfort stations", he essentially admitted that the Japanese Imperial Army had been involved, directly and indirectly, in the establishment of comfort facilities, and that coercion had been used in the recruitment and retention of the women. His subsequent call for historical research and education aimed at remembering the issue became the basis for addressing the subject of forced prostitution in school history textbooks.
To date, he has been the only president of the LDP not to serve as Prime Minister of Japan.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Kono's tenure longest as speaker". The Japan Times. 20081120. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081120a9.html. Retrieved on 22 November 2008.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Masahiko Komura |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1999 - 2001 |
Succeeded by Makiko Tanaka |
| Preceded by Koji Kakizawa |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1994 - 1996 |
Succeeded by Yukihiko Ikeda |
| Preceded by Koichi Kato |
Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan 1991 - 1992 |
Succeeded by Masayoshi Takemura |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Kiichi Miyazawa |
President of the Liberal Democratic Party 1993 – 1995 |
Succeeded by Ryutaro Hashimoto |
| Preceded by - |
President of the New Liberal Club 1976 – 1979 |
Succeeded by Seiichi Tagawa |
