 Japanese governments have issued several official apologies for their war crimes and other actions during the Imperial era.The apology that most immediately preceded the Murayama Statement was the Kono Statement announced by LDP Chief Cabinet Secretary Yōhei Kōno on August 4, 1993.With this statement, Japan acknowledged for the first time that their military was directly or indirectly involved in the military-run brothels and used coercion to make the comfort women provide sex to the Japanese soldiers.