"comfort women" - the story that will not die

Japanese politicians keep harping on the same nonsensical point about how there "no historical proof" that the comfort women were coerced and how it depends on your definition of "coerced" -- I wonder how those same politicians would react if the North Koreans said there was no evidence Megumi Yokota or any of the other abductees had been forcibly taken to North Korea? For a considerably less factually challenged approach to the issue, have a look at this excellent scholarly article from Japan Focus.
Surely, we can expect a free exchange of ideas in the media on a subject like this - after all Japan has a free press doesn't it?