- Comfort Women
- War and the Women’s Human Rights
Comfort Women
Table of Contents Open Contents
The institution of comfort women under Japanese Imperialism between 1931 and 1945 was in effect a form of sex slavery that was implemented by mobilizing women by the hundreds of thousands from its colonies and own country. Since the outbreak of the 1937 Sino-Japanese War and the Nanking Massacre in December of the same year, the institution became an integral part of the Japanese armed forces.
It was intended to provide sexual comfort free from the fear of sexually transmitted disease to soldiers who were under enormous stress from battle fatigue and fear of death. The Japanese top military brass may have thought it would be an effective way to control the rank and file while preventing the rape of local women by the soldiers. To that end, women from Korea, Taiwan and other occupied areas, as well as from metropolitan Japan were recruited. Under a highly discriminatory social structure, those from meager backgrounds with little educational attainment were the focus of recruitment as comfort women. The institution of comfort women was made possible by a combination of the worst elements of patriarchal societies with the Japanese militarism that gained colonies and occupied wide areas.
It took five decades after the war’s end to see the issue of Japanese comfort women emerge from the shadows. That’s because until the late 1980s a woman raped in most Asian societies would not come forward as the blame would be usually attributed to the woman for her less-than-perfect behavior. In a social atmosphere in which sexual victims were disadvantaged, the sexual slavery victims had to endure in silence and humiliation.
In 1988 when the women’s rights movement was in its infancy in Korea, Prof. Yoon Jung-ok raised the issue of comfort women during Japanese colonial rule in a seminar while mentioning the problem of sex tourism (so-called Keisha tourism) by Japanese tourists. She argued in this venue that the comfort women issue was the historical roots of today’s sex tourism and sexual exploitation can occur in places where exploitation in economic, political and military terms occurs. Since then, women’s rights advocacy groups have begun working on getting the truth out from former sex slavery victims with the belief that the resolution of the comfort women’s issue would be the starting point for correcting Korea’s sexual violence problems. They demanded that the Korean government actively pursue apologies from the Japanese government while uncovering the truth about this horrendous chapter of these women’s past.
Unable to get satisfactory answers from either government, the women’s advocates organized the Korean Council for Women Drafted into Military Sexual Slavery by Japan in November 1990 by allying 36 grassroots groups. Originally the expression “Women’s Army Volunteer Corps” indicated those women volunteers who did nursing jobs and other chores for the Japanese military during the war. But most Koreans who lived through the Japanese colonial era remember the women drafted as sex slaves as part of the volunteer corps. That’s because the rumors that Korean women were being exploited sexually in war zones were overlapped with the volunteer corps recruiting young women. This was more so in a situation where young women who were forced to leave their village were unable to return home for years. The fact that people at the time had a perception equating volunteer corps members with comfort women shows that recruiting for such women was done in the name of factory work or labor mobilization.
This is one reason for the Japanese government’s denial of official responsibility as the recruitment was conducted in a covert manner. In response to the demands by women’s rights group that it be forthcoming about its murky past, the Japanese government kept up a steady denial saying the government and the military had nothing to do with it. Even the Korean government failed to vigorously pursue the truth. On August 14, 1991 when the comfort women issue was nearly forgotten by the public, Kim Hak-sun, one of the former comfort women, testified for the first time that she had been a sex slave under the Japanese military. She said at the time, “I could never say it to anyone and kept it to myself because I was ashamed of what happened. But I couldn’t stand people falling in love with Japan while forgetting what happened only a few decades ago.” Encouraged by this, several other women started coming forward to testify.
The survivors were indisputable evidence to the historical facts that had been hidden for so long. They also started taking the lead in demanding apologies and restitution from the Japanese government. Through their testimonies, the truth about life in the comfort stations was revealed. The fact that the Japanese military was deeply involved in recruiting and maintaining comfort stations was also exposed. The sad story of their lives after liberation has made us look more closely at how cruel we have been to sexual crime victims.
It has been two decades since the issue of Japanese comfort women was exposed to the light of day in our society. In the meantime, reams of material proving direct involvement of the Japanese government and the military in the matter have been gathered. In 1993 the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary “regrettably” acknowledged that the government was directly and indirectly involved in creating and managing comfort stations and transporting some of the women. The Korean government began paying compensation and monthly stipends to the survivors of sex slavery. The Japanese government created a civilian organization called Asian Women's Fund and tried to make “ex gratia” payments instead of obligatory compensation. Even though the women’s groups kept arguing that the real resolution of the issue starts from official apologies from the Japanese government after approval with the Diet, it seems the attitude of the Japanese government as of 2014 has retreated significantly from the 1993 Kono Statement.
Of the 238 Korean women who testified about their experience as sex slaves, only 55 survive as of October 2014. As the number of the survivors who were present whenever there were meetings, lectures, and court proceedings slowly decreases, people’s interest in the issue, as well as the pressure on the Japanese government, declines. The survivors have raised their voices on related matters like Japanese history textbook controversies, peace issues, and violence against women, as well as Japanese sex slavery during World War II. That’s because they are keenly aware that the comfort women issue is not something that happened in the past but something that will go on in different forms unless they put an end to it now. History will be forgotten unless we remember through public records and discourse. Forgetfulness will beget the tragedy of history over and over again. Listening to the story of the victims of Japanese sex slavery and transmitting the lessons from it are part of our job to create a future without war and all the ugly vices spilling out of it.
It was intended to provide sexual comfort free from the fear of sexually transmitted disease to soldiers who were under enormous stress from battle fatigue and fear of death. The Japanese top military brass may have thought it would be an effective way to control the rank and file while preventing the rape of local women by the soldiers. To that end, women from Korea, Taiwan and other occupied areas, as well as from metropolitan Japan were recruited. Under a highly discriminatory social structure, those from meager backgrounds with little educational attainment were the focus of recruitment as comfort women. The institution of comfort women was made possible by a combination of the worst elements of patriarchal societies with the Japanese militarism that gained colonies and occupied wide areas.
It took five decades after the war’s end to see the issue of Japanese comfort women emerge from the shadows. That’s because until the late 1980s a woman raped in most Asian societies would not come forward as the blame would be usually attributed to the woman for her less-than-perfect behavior. In a social atmosphere in which sexual victims were disadvantaged, the sexual slavery victims had to endure in silence and humiliation.
In 1988 when the women’s rights movement was in its infancy in Korea, Prof. Yoon Jung-ok raised the issue of comfort women during Japanese colonial rule in a seminar while mentioning the problem of sex tourism (so-called Keisha tourism) by Japanese tourists. She argued in this venue that the comfort women issue was the historical roots of today’s sex tourism and sexual exploitation can occur in places where exploitation in economic, political and military terms occurs. Since then, women’s rights advocacy groups have begun working on getting the truth out from former sex slavery victims with the belief that the resolution of the comfort women’s issue would be the starting point for correcting Korea’s sexual violence problems. They demanded that the Korean government actively pursue apologies from the Japanese government while uncovering the truth about this horrendous chapter of these women’s past.
Unable to get satisfactory answers from either government, the women’s advocates organized the Korean Council for Women Drafted into Military Sexual Slavery by Japan in November 1990 by allying 36 grassroots groups. Originally the expression “Women’s Army Volunteer Corps” indicated those women volunteers who did nursing jobs and other chores for the Japanese military during the war. But most Koreans who lived through the Japanese colonial era remember the women drafted as sex slaves as part of the volunteer corps. That’s because the rumors that Korean women were being exploited sexually in war zones were overlapped with the volunteer corps recruiting young women. This was more so in a situation where young women who were forced to leave their village were unable to return home for years. The fact that people at the time had a perception equating volunteer corps members with comfort women shows that recruiting for such women was done in the name of factory work or labor mobilization.
This is one reason for the Japanese government’s denial of official responsibility as the recruitment was conducted in a covert manner. In response to the demands by women’s rights group that it be forthcoming about its murky past, the Japanese government kept up a steady denial saying the government and the military had nothing to do with it. Even the Korean government failed to vigorously pursue the truth. On August 14, 1991 when the comfort women issue was nearly forgotten by the public, Kim Hak-sun, one of the former comfort women, testified for the first time that she had been a sex slave under the Japanese military. She said at the time, “I could never say it to anyone and kept it to myself because I was ashamed of what happened. But I couldn’t stand people falling in love with Japan while forgetting what happened only a few decades ago.” Encouraged by this, several other women started coming forward to testify.
The survivors were indisputable evidence to the historical facts that had been hidden for so long. They also started taking the lead in demanding apologies and restitution from the Japanese government. Through their testimonies, the truth about life in the comfort stations was revealed. The fact that the Japanese military was deeply involved in recruiting and maintaining comfort stations was also exposed. The sad story of their lives after liberation has made us look more closely at how cruel we have been to sexual crime victims.
It has been two decades since the issue of Japanese comfort women was exposed to the light of day in our society. In the meantime, reams of material proving direct involvement of the Japanese government and the military in the matter have been gathered. In 1993 the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary “regrettably” acknowledged that the government was directly and indirectly involved in creating and managing comfort stations and transporting some of the women. The Korean government began paying compensation and monthly stipends to the survivors of sex slavery. The Japanese government created a civilian organization called Asian Women's Fund and tried to make “ex gratia” payments instead of obligatory compensation. Even though the women’s groups kept arguing that the real resolution of the issue starts from official apologies from the Japanese government after approval with the Diet, it seems the attitude of the Japanese government as of 2014 has retreated significantly from the 1993 Kono Statement.
Of the 238 Korean women who testified about their experience as sex slaves, only 55 survive as of October 2014. As the number of the survivors who were present whenever there were meetings, lectures, and court proceedings slowly decreases, people’s interest in the issue, as well as the pressure on the Japanese government, declines. The survivors have raised their voices on related matters like Japanese history textbook controversies, peace issues, and violence against women, as well as Japanese sex slavery during World War II. That’s because they are keenly aware that the comfort women issue is not something that happened in the past but something that will go on in different forms unless they put an end to it now. History will be forgotten unless we remember through public records and discourse. Forgetfulness will beget the tragedy of history over and over again. Listening to the story of the victims of Japanese sex slavery and transmitting the lessons from it are part of our job to create a future without war and all the ugly vices spilling out of it.