従軍慰安婦問題 ― hot-button issue

昨晩の記者会見で、朝日新聞社が福島原発事故の吉田調書について報じた際の誤報を謝罪し、記事を取り消す旨の発表を行いましたが、海外でも大いに話題となっています。


The Asahi Shimbun, Japan's second-largest daily newspaper, retracted an influential news report on the Fukushima nuclear disaster on Thursday after weeks of criticism from other news organizations.

The move, which included an apology, came a month after the newspaper retracted a series of articles on another hot-button issue: the women from Korea and elsewhere who were forced by Japan to serve in military brothels during World War II. The articles used reports about the practice by one Japanese man whose particular accusations have been widely discredited.

Japan acknowledged in a landmark apology in 1993 that the women had been forced to work in the brothels.
(Austin Ramzy. Japanese Newspaper Retracts Fukushima Disaster Report and Fires Editor. The New York Times. September 11, 2014.)


朝日新聞の報道でもう1つ問題になっているのが従軍慰安婦に関するものです。朝日新聞社は従軍慰安婦に関する吉田証言についても先月、記事を取り下げました。（どちらも“吉田～”でややこしいですが・・・。）

さて、その従軍慰安婦問題について、上記の引用記事では、


another hot-button issue


と表現しています。

"hot-button"とは何でしょうか？

Merriam-Websterによると、


an emotional and usually controversial issue or concern that triggers immediate intense reaction


という定義があり、ことさら物議を醸すような問題、特に感情的になりやすい類の問題を指す時に用いられる形容です。