Friday, September 27, 2013
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Japanese-Americans split over statue of ‘comfort women'
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201308270014
Japanese-Americans split over statue of ‘comfort women'
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August 27, 2013
By ERIKA TOH/ Correspondent
GLENDALE, Calif.--An ocean away from their ancestral homeland, Japanese-Americans are still divided over statues memorializing “comfort women” of World War II that are being installed in California and other parts of the United States.
Some Japanese-Americans are waging fierce protests against the monuments, insisting that South Korea cooked the contentious historical issue.
Others, saying comfort women are also victims of war, just like those of Japanese descent who were herded off to internment camps by the U.S. government after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
On July 30, Glendale, located on the outskirts of Los Angeles, became the first municipality in California to erect a comfort women statue, which portrays a young girl in traditional Korean dress with an empty seat next to her. It is a replica of the one that was installed across from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December 2011.
Plans are under way for similar statues or monuments in other municipalities near Los Angeles, home to the largest Korea town in the world. Comfort women is an euphemism for tens of thousands of foreign women and girls--most of them Koreans--who were forced to become sex workers for Japanese troops before and during World War II.
Approval of the statue in Glendale came after dozens of Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans assembled in the gallery section of the city council on July 9 to argue against the proposed installation.
The Los Angeles Times described their protests: “It began as a trickle, but transformed into a tsunami.”
The opponents were organized in response to a call, carried in a Japanese language newspaper, by a former news reporter who lives in the city. Some contended that South Korea “cooked up” the comfort women issue, while others insisted that there is no evidence that the women and girls were coerced. Still others argued that other nations' militaries also had similar arrangements to the Japanese military brothels.
The council voted 4-1 for the monument to be erected in Central Park.
“I don’t see this as designed to be a monument to shame Japan,” Councilwoman Laura Friedman said. The monument, she said, is meant to remind people of the tragedy that 13- or 14-year-old girls were forced to become comfort women and the horrors of the war.
Only a handful of Japanese and Japanese-Americans showed up for the ceremony on July 30 to unveil the monument.
While they eyed the statue from a distance, a crowd of residents of Korean ancestry had their pictures taken with the monument.
Masayuki Onoda, a 68-year-old former engineer and a third-generation Japanese descendent who was opposed to the monument, said it was meaningless to protest when the issue went before the city council.
At the ceremony, two Japanese-Americans took the podium to show their support for the installation.
Mike Kodama, whose grandparents died in a relocation camp during World War II, called for unity among Americans of Asian descent, saying Japanese and Korean descendants are all Americans.
Kathy Masaoka, 65, said she attended the ceremony to set herself apart from those who deny the history.
Masaoka, a third-generation Japanese-American, said she identifies with comfort women because she has long demanded that the U.S. government apologize to Americans of Japanese descent for relocating them to internment camps and offer them compensation. She said offering an apology and redress helps victims heal.
Similar local battles are spreading around Los Angeles through grass-roots efforts to erect comfort women monuments.
The movements were galvanized after the U.S. Congress passed in 2007 a resolution calling on Japan to “formally apologize and accept historical responsibility.” U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, a Democrat and Japanese-American, sponsored the resolution.
The efforts are gathering momentum on the back of the growing population of Korean-Americans.
According to the 2010 statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans of Japanese ancestry stood at about 1.3 million. With 270,000, California is home to the largest community of Japanese-Americans.
In comparison, the Korean-American population numbers 1.7 million nationally. California has the largest such population, with 450,000.
In Irvine, the mayor met with a Korean-affiliated group over a similar proposal several months previously. The city government is mulling whether the city council should discuss it.
In Buena Park, Councilman Art Brown is weighing whether a proposal for constructing a monument should be submitted to the city council in September or at a later date.
The city council tentatively delayed consideration on July 23, apparently taking into account the sentiment of Japanese-Americans.
Council members, however, cannot afford to completely ignore the intensifying lobbying efforts by Korean-Americans.
If debate over the monument proceeds in these municipalities, it could rekindle protest rallies by Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans and, in response, lead to similar projects elsewhere.
Masaoka said the more opponents of the monuments wage protests, the more supporters are determined to erect them.
Most Japanese-Americans are remaining silent about the controversy, perhaps out of concern over dividing their population.
The Japanese American Citizens League, the nation’s largest Japanese-American and Asian-American civil rights organization, said it will not take a position on the issue.
By ERIKA TOH/ Correspondent
Eiji Nakano · Top Commenter
Asahi Shinbun is one on left wing paper which create "Japanese military comfort women" issue. They reported Seiji Yoshida's novel as proof of This issue and later Seiji Yoshida confessed it was fiction. But Asahi ignore it and still use proof of this issue.
Reply · 4 · Like · Follow Post · August 28 at 9:15pm
Stop Propaganda jp
http://p.tl/nflk
The diary which the man of the Korean who worked in a comfort place wrote was discovered recently.
>"I was asked by a comfort woman to remit 600 yen, so I withdrew her deposit and sent it from a central post office."
That time of 600yen is 600,000yen ($6,000) equivalency in the present times.
Ex.The salary of the general of the then army is 220 yen.
Is the comfort woman who had the income that is higher than an officer really a "sex slave?"
No! this is just PROPAGANDA!
http://youtu.be/HxcFV7g9oQc
http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · August 30 at 11:05am
William A Warrior · Follow · Top Commenter · Works at Palo Alto Animal Services
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army was a regimental size fighting unit composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese descent who fought in World War II. Their members fought with distinction against the Axis Powers. These are the Japanese Americans from whom I would most like to hear an opinion on the Glendale memorial to Korean women victims of Japan in WWII.
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · August 27 at 10:03am
Masaki Miyamoto · Follow
Korean Comfort Women are prostitute(洋公主).
http://youtu.be/dSTxYQF9Bwg
All the records of evidence are proving.
Search record of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Government.
http://texas-daddy.com/comfortwomen.htm
Buena Park,CA acquired truth.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buena-Park-CA-Memories/142537189167345
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 16 at 3:25pm
Masaki Miyamoto · Follow
<>.
In the final days of World War II, Koreans were determined to take back control of their country from the Japanese and end the suffering caused by the Japanese occupation.
As an eleven-year-old girl living with her Japanese family in northern Korea, Yoko is suddenly fleeing for her life with her mother and older sister, Ko, trying to escape to Japan, a country Yoko hardly knows.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4892959219/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=royalnavy-22&camp=243&creative=1615&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=4892959219&adid=0CMJPTQX97FBSPQYYEM5&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Froyalnavy.blog6.fc2.com%2F
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 5 at 12:55pm
Japanese-Americans split over statue of ‘comfort women'
Previous Article
Researchers develop blood test for early detection of pancreatic cancer
Next Article
Abe thanks Kuwait for post-tsunami railway restoration
August 27, 2013
By ERIKA TOH/ Correspondent
GLENDALE, Calif.--An ocean away from their ancestral homeland, Japanese-Americans are still divided over statues memorializing “comfort women” of World War II that are being installed in California and other parts of the United States.
Some Japanese-Americans are waging fierce protests against the monuments, insisting that South Korea cooked the contentious historical issue.
Others, saying comfort women are also victims of war, just like those of Japanese descent who were herded off to internment camps by the U.S. government after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
On July 30, Glendale, located on the outskirts of Los Angeles, became the first municipality in California to erect a comfort women statue, which portrays a young girl in traditional Korean dress with an empty seat next to her. It is a replica of the one that was installed across from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December 2011.
Plans are under way for similar statues or monuments in other municipalities near Los Angeles, home to the largest Korea town in the world. Comfort women is an euphemism for tens of thousands of foreign women and girls--most of them Koreans--who were forced to become sex workers for Japanese troops before and during World War II.
Approval of the statue in Glendale came after dozens of Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans assembled in the gallery section of the city council on July 9 to argue against the proposed installation.
The Los Angeles Times described their protests: “It began as a trickle, but transformed into a tsunami.”
The opponents were organized in response to a call, carried in a Japanese language newspaper, by a former news reporter who lives in the city. Some contended that South Korea “cooked up” the comfort women issue, while others insisted that there is no evidence that the women and girls were coerced. Still others argued that other nations' militaries also had similar arrangements to the Japanese military brothels.
The council voted 4-1 for the monument to be erected in Central Park.
“I don’t see this as designed to be a monument to shame Japan,” Councilwoman Laura Friedman said. The monument, she said, is meant to remind people of the tragedy that 13- or 14-year-old girls were forced to become comfort women and the horrors of the war.
Only a handful of Japanese and Japanese-Americans showed up for the ceremony on July 30 to unveil the monument.
While they eyed the statue from a distance, a crowd of residents of Korean ancestry had their pictures taken with the monument.
Masayuki Onoda, a 68-year-old former engineer and a third-generation Japanese descendent who was opposed to the monument, said it was meaningless to protest when the issue went before the city council.
At the ceremony, two Japanese-Americans took the podium to show their support for the installation.
Mike Kodama, whose grandparents died in a relocation camp during World War II, called for unity among Americans of Asian descent, saying Japanese and Korean descendants are all Americans.
Kathy Masaoka, 65, said she attended the ceremony to set herself apart from those who deny the history.
Masaoka, a third-generation Japanese-American, said she identifies with comfort women because she has long demanded that the U.S. government apologize to Americans of Japanese descent for relocating them to internment camps and offer them compensation. She said offering an apology and redress helps victims heal.
Similar local battles are spreading around Los Angeles through grass-roots efforts to erect comfort women monuments.
The movements were galvanized after the U.S. Congress passed in 2007 a resolution calling on Japan to “formally apologize and accept historical responsibility.” U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, a Democrat and Japanese-American, sponsored the resolution.
The efforts are gathering momentum on the back of the growing population of Korean-Americans.
According to the 2010 statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans of Japanese ancestry stood at about 1.3 million. With 270,000, California is home to the largest community of Japanese-Americans.
In comparison, the Korean-American population numbers 1.7 million nationally. California has the largest such population, with 450,000.
In Irvine, the mayor met with a Korean-affiliated group over a similar proposal several months previously. The city government is mulling whether the city council should discuss it.
In Buena Park, Councilman Art Brown is weighing whether a proposal for constructing a monument should be submitted to the city council in September or at a later date.
The city council tentatively delayed consideration on July 23, apparently taking into account the sentiment of Japanese-Americans.
Council members, however, cannot afford to completely ignore the intensifying lobbying efforts by Korean-Americans.
If debate over the monument proceeds in these municipalities, it could rekindle protest rallies by Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans and, in response, lead to similar projects elsewhere.
Masaoka said the more opponents of the monuments wage protests, the more supporters are determined to erect them.
Most Japanese-Americans are remaining silent about the controversy, perhaps out of concern over dividing their population.
The Japanese American Citizens League, the nation’s largest Japanese-American and Asian-American civil rights organization, said it will not take a position on the issue.
By ERIKA TOH/ Correspondent
Eiji Nakano · Top Commenter
Asahi Shinbun is one on left wing paper which create "Japanese military comfort women" issue. They reported Seiji Yoshida's novel as proof of This issue and later Seiji Yoshida confessed it was fiction. But Asahi ignore it and still use proof of this issue.
Reply · 4 · Like · Follow Post · August 28 at 9:15pm
Stop Propaganda jp
http://p.tl/nflk
The diary which the man of the Korean who worked in a comfort place wrote was discovered recently.
>"I was asked by a comfort woman to remit 600 yen, so I withdrew her deposit and sent it from a central post office."
That time of 600yen is 600,000yen ($6,000) equivalency in the present times.
Ex.The salary of the general of the then army is 220 yen.
Is the comfort woman who had the income that is higher than an officer really a "sex slave?"
No! this is just PROPAGANDA!
http://youtu.be/HxcFV7g9oQc
http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · August 30 at 11:05am
William A Warrior · Follow · Top Commenter · Works at Palo Alto Animal Services
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army was a regimental size fighting unit composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese descent who fought in World War II. Their members fought with distinction against the Axis Powers. These are the Japanese Americans from whom I would most like to hear an opinion on the Glendale memorial to Korean women victims of Japan in WWII.
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · August 27 at 10:03am
Masaki Miyamoto · Follow
Korean Comfort Women are prostitute(洋公主).
http://youtu.be/dSTxYQF9Bwg
All the records of evidence are proving.
Search record of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Government.
http://texas-daddy.com/comfortwomen.htm
Buena Park,CA acquired truth.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buena-Park-CA-Memories/142537189167345
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 16 at 3:25pm
Masaki Miyamoto · Follow
<
In the final days of World War II, Koreans were determined to take back control of their country from the Japanese and end the suffering caused by the Japanese occupation.
As an eleven-year-old girl living with her Japanese family in northern Korea, Yoko is suddenly fleeing for her life with her mother and older sister, Ko, trying to escape to Japan, a country Yoko hardly knows.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4892959219/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=royalnavy-22&camp=243&creative=1615&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=4892959219&adid=0CMJPTQX97FBSPQYYEM5&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Froyalnavy.blog6.fc2.com%2F
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 5 at 12:55pm
Former comfort woman tells uncomforting story DW
http://www.dw.de/former-comfort-woman-tells-uncomforting-story/a-17060384
Former comfort woman tells uncomforting story
Lee Ok-Seon spent three years in a Japanese military brothel in China against her will during WW II. Nearly 70 years after the surrender of Japan, she visited Germany to make her story known.
Lee Ok-Seong, (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima)
Yi Ok-sun 李玉善（イ・オクソン、이옥선）
慰安婦（いあんふ、위안부[1]、Comfort Women）
Bravely, she talks about that tragic day when she was abducted off the street in the southeastern city of Busan by a group of men. It was late afternoon - sometime between 5 and 6 pm, and Lee Ok-Seon was 14 years old when she was thrown into a car and trafficked to a brothel, a so-called "comfort station," in China for the Japanese military where she was raped every day until the end of the war. At that moment, she had no idea that she would never see her family again nor step foot in her home country for nearly six decades. She had no idea what torture awaited her.
The 86-year-old woman does not give specific details as to what she experienced there. She summarizes it in one sentence: "It was not a place for human beings. It was a slaughter house." After she says that, her voice sounds harder. Those three years shaped the rest of her life. "When the war was over, others were set free, but not me."
Another name for sex slaves
Lee Ok-Seong sits on a bed (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) Lee kept her dark secret to herself for nearly 60 years
Lee Ok-Seon's is not an isolated case, although it is not known exactly how many other women shared the same fate. "According to estimates, there must have been around 200,000 such women. But this has never been confirmed," explains Bernd Stöver, a historian at Potsdam University. He finds it unnerving that the women are referred to as "comfort women," a "euphemism for what they really were: sex slaves."
It was not only women from the Korean Peninsula, which was under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945, who were forced into prostitution; there were also women from China, Malaysia and the Philippines, to name a few. The brothels, which were set up throughout the entire area under Japanese occupation, were meant to keep up morale among Japanese soldiers and avoid the rape of local women. For the mostly underage women forced to work there, on the other hand, it was a daily sacrifice. Many of them did not survive the torment; an estimated two thirds of them died before the end of the war.
Overwhelming shame
"We were often beaten, threatened and attacked with knives," Lee Ok-Seon remembers. "We were 11, 12, 13 or 14 years old and we didn't believe anyone would save us from that hell." During her time there, she explains, she was completely isolated from the outside world and trusted no one. It was a state of constant despair. "Many girls committed suicide. They drowned or hung themselves." At one point she also thought this was her only alternative. But she couldn't do it. "It is easy to say, 'I'd rather be dead.' It is so much more difficult to actually do it. That is a big step."
Lee Ok-Seong standing outside near a tree(Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) In Cologne, Lee Ok-Seong talked about the 'overwhelming shame' of her past
Lee Ok-Seon decided to live and ended up surviving the war. After the Japanese capitulation in late summer of 1945, the owner of the brothel disappeared. The women were suddenly free again, but also confused and disoriented. "I didn't know where I should go. I had no money. I was homeless and had to sleep on the streets."
She didn't know how to get back to Korea or if she really wanted to go back - the shame she felt was overwhelming. "I decided I would rather spend the rest of my days in China. How could I have gone home? It was written on my face that I was a comfort woman. I could have never looked my mother in the eyes again."
New life in China
Lee Ok-Seon met a man of Korean descent, married him and took care of his children. "I felt it was my duty to take care of these children, whose mother had died. I wasn't able to have any children of my own." As a result of sexually transmitted diseases, such as Syphilis, contracted in the brothel, she became so sick that she nearly died. To increase her chances of survival, doctors removed her uterus. She lived in the city of Yanji, kept to herself and tried to get back on her feet - all on her own. She spent decades like this. Her husband treated her well, she laughs, "otherwise I wouldn't have put up with him for so long."
Lee Ok-Seong, in the front row in the middle, stands with other former sex slaves and their supporters and protests in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) Since 2000, Lee, front row, middle, has met with other victims and her supporters outside the Japanese embassy every week
Many comfort women lived a similar life after the brothels, keeping to themselves and keeping quiet about the horrors they experienced - mostly out of fear of being labeled an outcast. According to Stöver, talking about forced prostitution is an absolute taboo. "There was no support in society for these women." It took decades after the end of the war to get people talking about comfort women in Asia.
It wasn't until the year 1991 that the first former "comfort woman" went public with her story. She encouraged and inspired 250 other women to finally talk about their experiences as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the war and demand recognition and an apology from the Japanese government. Since then, the women and their supporters meet every Wednesday outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. They hold placards and shout slogans. But they have yet to receive what they demand.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto speaks at a policy debate to establish the new national party 'Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Association)' in Osaka, September 2012. (Photo: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/GettyImages) Toru Hashimoto's statement about the necessity of 'comfort stations' caused outrage
Japan has trouble dealing with its dark past, according to historian Stöver. The government in 1993 did commission and publish a study officially recognizing the existence of "comfort women" and the role of Japanese soldiers. "After that, the government did apologize on multiple occasions. But it never really drew any consequences."
Stöver explained the apologies were isolated occurrences; there was never a full admission of guilt nor was there any official financial compensation program. Aside from payments made to a few hundred people by a fund set up by the government, the women have received no money. And it is not likely they will in the future: "In 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court decided they have no claim to damages."
A bitter pill for the victims. And even today, on occasion, Japanese politicians simply deny the existence of the comfort women. Or they play it down. During his time in office in early 2007, incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for example, said there was "no proof that the women were forced" to work in the brothels. He later apologized for the statement.
Earlier this year, Toru Hashimoto, governor of Osaka, told journalists that in times of war, sex slavery was "necessary" to keep the discipline among the troops. Lee Ok-Seon thinks the statement is crass and outrageous: "I cannot grasp how anyone can say such a thing. Whoever refuses to accept what the Japanese did back then is not a human being."
Back home but alone
Lee Ok-Seon now lives in South Korea. In 2000, after the death of her husband, she felt the urge to go back to her country of origin and make her story public. She has since lived near Seoul in the so-called "House of Sharing," which provides assisted living for former sex slaves. It was there that she received psychological care for the first time. And she finally received a new passport.
Researching her past, she learned that her parents had died but that her youngest brother was still alive. He helped her in the beginning but after a while, the relationship deteriorated. It was exactly what Lee Ok-Seon had feared: too embarrassed to be the brother of a former "comfort woman," he wanted nothing to do with her.
DW.DE
Japan's regional isolation higher than ever
Japan's neighbors are getting wary of PM Shinzo Abe and his center-right government. At home, however, Abe is bucking the trend of his immediate predecessors and riding high in the opinion polls. (20.05.2013)
Asia irks Japan over 'comfort women' legacy
Japan believes it has apologized sufficiently for the excesses of its military in the first half of the last century, but its neighbors feel the government in Tokyo continues to gloss over the atrocities. (18.03.2013)
The rocky rapprochement between Japan and China
China has canceled festivities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Japan due to the two countries' increasingly vitriolic spat over disputed islands in the East China Sea. (28.09.2012)
http://sikoken.blog.shinobi.jp/%E6%85%B0%E5%AE%89%E5%A9%A6%E8%A8%BC%E8%A8%80/%E6%9D%8E%E7%8E%89%E5%96%84%EF%BC%88%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%89
Lee Ok-Seong, (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima)
Yi Ok-sun 李玉善（イ・オクソン、이옥선）
慰安婦（いあんふ、위안부[1]、Comfort Women）
Yanji 延吉 · 연길
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanji
[her background, upbringing of why she became to the comfort women]
she was born in October 1927 (Note), in the poor house of Pusan, South Korea.
at her age of 14, she was sold as adopted daughter of the bar, moreover sold to another bar.
in July 1942, she was abducted on the errand, forced hard work,assaulted and raped in the northeastern part of China,at the airfield of Yanji.
About one year later, she was put in the comfort station of the same city.
she could not return to Korea after released,
she backed South Korea after 58 year in June 2000.
(Note) in 1928 on the family register,
※李玉仙と表記される場合もあり
【生い立ち・慰安婦になった経緯等】
1927年10月（注）、韓国釜山の貧しい家に生まれる。14歳の時、飲み屋の養女として売られ、さらに、別の飲み屋に売られる。
1942年7月、店のお使いの最中に拉致され、中国東北部、延吉の飛行場で重労働させられると共に暴行・強姦される。約1年後、同市内の慰安所に入れられる。
解放後も故郷に戻れず、2000年6月、58年ぶりに韓国へ帰国した。
（注）戸籍上は1928年
【慰安所までの移動時の公権力・軍の関与等】
日本人と朝鮮人の男二人に拉致されﾄﾗｯｸで駅まで行き、汽車で延吉（満州）まで連れて行かれる。そこの日本軍の飛行場で働かされ、強姦される。約一年後、延吉市内の慰安所に入れられる。（「証言 未来への記憶 ｱｼﾞｱ『慰安婦』証言集Ⅰ」より）
http://www.dw.de/asia-irks-japan-over-comfort-women-legacy/a-16680686
HISTORY
Asia irks Japan over 'comfort women' legacy
Japan believes it has apologized sufficiently for the excesses of its military in the first half of the last century, but its neighbors feel the government in Tokyo continues to gloss over the atrocities.
Chinese to be buried alive by Japanese soldiers during Nanking Massacre. In 2008, another photo which presents the same scene was discovered in Japan verifies its authenticity[1]. 《日寇暴行实录》配图标题：南京寇军活埋我同胞之惨状
Datum 1937/38
Quelle First published in: A Faithful Record of Atrocity of Japanese Troops, 1938
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-U1002-502 / CC-BY-SA
Japan's neighbors feel that the right-of-center government is again planning to gloss over the atrocities wrought upon the rest of Asia in the 20th century. The issue of "comfort women", in particular, is likely to be the first place any revisions to history are likely to be seen, argue Tokyo's detractors.
South Korea and China are stepping up their demands that Japan face up to its sexual enslavement of thousands of women - euphemistically known as "comfort women" - across large parts of Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Representatives of the two governments told the United Nations' Human Rights Council that it was high time Japan apologized and provided compensation.
Choi Seok-young, the South Korena ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the council on Thursday (14.03.2013) that, "Japan must accept legal responsibility and take appropriate measures."
That opinion was echoed by the delegation of the Philippines, while China's Liu Zhenmin demanded that Tokyo provide redress.
Takashi Okada, Japan's deputy ambassador to the UN, was quick to reply that his nation had already done its best to make amends and urged other nations not to turn the comfort women into a political issue.
'Immeasurable pain'
Protesters hold signs during their 1,000th weekly rally to demand an official apology and compensation for wartime sex slaves from the Japanese government near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Protesters in South Korea have repeatedly demanded compensation from Japan for wartime sex slaves
"The government of Japan feels grieved at the thought of those who suffered such immeasurable pain," he said, using terms similar to a statement issued in 1993 by Yohei Kono, then the chief cabinet secretary.
In that statement, which admitted that Japan had "at times" recruited women "against their will," Kono made "sincere apologies" for the "immeasurable pain and suffering" inflicted on comfort women. Tokyo maintained, however, that all issues of compensation had been settled by the 1965 Japan-South Korea treaty and the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Historians have estimated that around 200,000 women - primarily from China, Korea and the Philippines - were forced to provide sexual services to troops of the Imperial Japanese forces, although there are many in Japan who believe the scale of the problem has been vastly exaggerated. Others argue that comfort women were little more than licensed prostitutes who were paid well for their services, while others were sold into the sex trade by impoverished parents. In either case, they claim, Japan cannot be held responsible.
Some have gone as far as to suggest that the Kono Statement be withdrawn, while there are indications that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to oversee a major reconsideration of Japan's self-perception of history if he fares well in elections for the Upper House of parliament in July.
There are also plans afoot to alter the Japanese constitution, giving the military more leeway in handling international disputes. Furthermore, revisions to an education system that some conservatives have criticized as "masochistic" are also being considered, as is a harder line in dealing with China and South Korea in everything from territorial issues to the different perceptions of history.
No evidence
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a news conference next to the national flag, which is hung with a black ribbon as a symbol of mourning for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, at his official residence in Tokyo March 11, 2013. Japan honoured the victims of its worst disaster since World War Two on Monday: the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that killed almost 19,000 people and stranded 315,000 evacuees, including refugees who fled radiation from the devastated Fukushima atomic plant. REUTERS/Yuya Shino (JAPAN - Tags: POLITICS DISASTER ANNIVERSARY) Prime Minister Abe is said to be planning changes to the Japanese constitution
In his previous spell as prime minister in 2007, Abe triggered a storm or protest from Japan's neighbors when he claimed no concrete evidence had been found that proves women were forcibly recruited into sexual slavery in military brothels.
That opinion is shared by nationalist groups, including the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact. Hiromichi Moteki, secretary general of the group, says his aim is to translate books and historical documents and to provide that information to scholars and historians around the world so that they might re-evaluate the"evil empire" image of Japan of the early decades of the last century.
Moteki dismisses the latest Chinese and South Korean complaints to the UN as "ridiculous."
"These allegations are all fabricated," he insists. "They have no basis in fact at all and we have verified these facts."
Several historians have written papers on the accuracy of the comfort women's claims and how they came to be in the sex industry, with Moteki's group unsurprisingly promoting documents that support its position.
Kohyu Nishimura, for example, concluded in a paper issued earlier this year that "anti-Japanese agitators" are bending historical facts to psychologically "weaken and degrade" the Japanese people. And at the heart of this operation are "China and Korea and their anti-Japanese fellow travelers, which doggedly repeat the same malicious claims against Japan."
Lashing out at Japan
Former South Korean comfort women Lee Oak-sun who was forced to serve for the Japanese Imperial Army as a sexual slave during World War II talks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Nanumui Jip, The House of Sharing, in Gwangju, south of Seoul, Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Calls for Japan's apology for so-called comfort women flared anew last week after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there was no proof that the women were coerced into prostitution.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) One of the last Korean 'comfort women' is still demanding an apology
The US and its media used the issue to "lash out at Japan for its economic dominance in the '80s," he said, adding that it was also used as "a warning shot to Japan against becoming too 'uppity' in the conduct of policy with its neighbors."
But Moteki's protestations are arguably tarnished by the society's claims that Japan was not to blame for any of the terrible things that happened across Asia in the early decades of the last century.
He claims that China triggered the Sino-Japanese War in August 1937. He maintains that there was no massacre of 300,000 civilians in Nanking four months later and that the United States provoked Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, while the annexation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910 was inevitable because the kingdom was unable to maintain its independence. Moteki also argues that Japanese control brought great benefits to the Korean people in the form of schools, hospitals and infrastructure.
Whatever the truth behind the claims and counter-claims, Prime Minister Abe must be aware that any attempt to rewrite history poses a significant threat of triggering a new outbreak of fury among Japan's already fractious neighbors.
http://frankfurt.china-consulate.org/det/zg/t1074271.htm
Die Hölle einer koreanischen "Trostfrau" im Krieg Japans gegen China
2013-09-09
Schwarz-Weiß-Aufnahme von Lee Ok-Seon in einer U-Bahn (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Drei Jahre ging Lee Ok-Seon in einem japanischen Militärbordell durch die Hölle. Sie wurde vergewaltigt, gedemütigt, geschlagen. Bis heute ist sie davon gezeichnet. Körperlich und seelisch.
Ohne zu stocken erzählt sie von dem Tag, an dem es passierte: Auf offener Straße, in Busan, ganz im Südosten der koreanischen Halbinsel, schlugen die Männer zu. Es war später Nachmittag, irgendwann zwischen 17 und 18 Uhr, erinnert sich Lee Ok-Seon. Sie packten das Mädchen unter den Armen, zerrten es in ein Fahrzeug. Dann brachten sie es in eine sogenannte "Troststation" im Nordwesten Chinas. Lee Ok-Seon war 14 Jahre alt. Sie ahnte nicht, dass sie ihr Heimatland fast sechs Jahrzehnte nicht wiedersehen würde. Dass ihre Eltern irgendwann die Hoffnung auf ein Wiedersehen begraben und sie für tot erklären lassen würden. Und sie wusste auch nicht, welche Qualen ihr bevorstanden.
Drei Jahre - bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges - verbrachte Lee Ok-Seon in diesem Militärbordell in der Provinz Jilin Chinas , wurde täglich zum Geschlechtsverkehr mit japanischen Soldaten gezwungen. Über die Details dieser Tortur spricht die heute 86-Jährige nicht, sie fasst die Erfahrung in einem Satz zusammen. "Das war kein Ort für Menschen, das war ein Schlachthof." Ihre Stimme klingt härter, als sie das sagt. Die drei Jahre dort haben ihr ganzes Leben geprägt. "Der Krieg ist längst zu Ende, die anderen sind befreit worden, aber ich nicht."
Anderer Ausdruck für Sexsklavinnen
Lee Ok-Seon auf ihrem Bett mit einem Buch auf dem Schoß
(Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Sechzig Jahre schwieg Lee Ok-Seon über das, was ihr widerfahren war
Lee Ok-Seons Schicksal ist bei weitem kein Einzelfall. Allerdings: Wie vielen Frauen es ähnlich erging wie ihr, ist nicht bekannt. "Schätzungen zufolge sind es um die 200.000 gewesen, aber bestätigt ist diese Zahl nicht", erklärt Bernd Stöver, Historiker an der Universität Potsdam gegenüber der Deutschen Welle. Der Begriff "Trostfrauen" an sich - oder auf Englisch "comfort women" - erzeugt aus Sicht des Historikers ein schiefes Bild. "Im Grunde genommen ist er falsch. Es waren Zwangsprostituierte. Trostfrauen werden sie nur verharmlosend genannt."
Nicht nur Mädchen und Frauen aus dem seit 1905 von Japan besetzten Korea wurden als Zwangsprostituierte in die Bordelle verschleppt, die im gesamten damaligen Herrschaftsgebiet Japans eingerichtet wurden. Die Opfer stammten auch aus anderen Ländern: neben China beispielsweise aus Malaysia oder den Philippinen. Offiziell dienten die "Troststationen" dazu, den Kampfgeist der japanischen Armee zu steigern - und Frauen in den besetzten Gebieten vor Vergewaltigungen durch japanische Soldaten zu schützen. Für die meist minderjährigen Frauen in den "Troststationen" allerdings bedeuteten sie ein tägliches Martyrium. Viele von ihnen überlebten die Qualen nicht, Schätzungen zufolge starben mehr als zwei Drittel vor Kriegsende.
Schweigen aus Scham und Schande
"Wir wurden oft geschlagen, bedroht, mit Messern verletzt", erinnert sich Lee Ok-Seon. "Wir waren elf, zwölf, dreizehn oder vierzehn Jahre alt und haben nicht daran geglaubt, dass uns jemand da herausholen würde." Sie sei während der Zeit im Bordell komplett von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten gewesen, habe niemandem vertraut. Die Verzweiflung sei allgegenwärtig gewesen. "Viele Mädchen haben versucht, sich das Leben zu nehmen. Sie haben sich ertränkt oder erhängt." Auch sie selbst war an einem Punkt, an dem sie keinen anderen Ausweg mehr sah, auch sie wollte zum Strick greifen. Doch dann überlegte sie es sich doch noch anders. "Es ist einfach zu sagen: Ich möchte am liebsten tot sein. Es ist ungleich schwieriger, es dann tatsächlich zu tun. Das ist ein großer Schritt."
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Lee Ok-Seon an einen Baum gelehnt (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
"Es war eine so beschämende Erfahrung", sagt Lee Ok-Seon
Lee Ok-Seon schreckte zurück vor diesem Schritt - und überlebte den Krieg. Nach der japanischen Kapitulation im Spätsommer 1945 war der Besitzer des Bordells über Nacht verschwunden, die Mädchen waren plötzlich frei. Und vollkommen orientierungslos. "Ich wusste nicht, wo ich hingehen soll. Ich hatte kein Geld. Ich war obdachlos, habe auf der Straße geschlafen", erzählt sie. Den Weg nach Korea kannte sie nicht, wollte ihn auch gar nicht gehen. Zu groß sei die Scham gewesen. "Ich wollte lieber in China bleiben und hier sterben. Wie hätte ich nach Hause gehen können? Auf meinem Gesicht stand geschrieben, dass ich eine 'Trostfrau' bin. Ich hätte meiner Mutter nicht mehr ins Gesicht sehen können."
Ersatzleben in China
Lee Ok-Seon lernte einen koreanisch-stämmigen Mann in Jilin kennen, heiratete ihn, kümmerte sich um seine Kinder. "Ich habe es als meine Aufgabe angesehen, diese Kinder, deren Mutter gestorben war, großzuziehen." Sie knetet sich die Hände und fügt dann hinzu: "Ich selbst konnte ja keine bekommen." Lee Ok-Seon hat keine Gebärmutter mehr. In Folge von Geschlechtskrankheiten wie beispielsweise Syphilis, die sie sich im Bordell immer wieder zuzog, wurde sie nach ihrer Freilassung so krank, dass sie fast gestorben wäre. Um ihre Überlebenschancen zu erhöhen, wurde die Gebärmutter entfernt.
Im chinesischen Yanji lebte sie dann ein zurückgezogenes Leben und versuchte - wie sie es ausdrückt - aus eigener Kraft wieder auf die Beine zu kommen. So vergingen Jahrzehnte. Ihr Mann habe sie immer gut behandelt, sagt Lee Ok-Seon und lacht zum ersten Mal. "Sonst hätte ich es ja nicht so lange mit ihm ausgehalten."
Lee Ok-Seon gemeinsam mit anderen Opfern bei einer Demonstration: Die Frauen halten ein Transparent und haben die Arme erhoben (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Seit 2000 nimmt auch Lee Ok-Seon (vordere Reihe Mitte) an den Demonstrationen ehemaliger "Trostfrauen" vor der japanischen Botschaft in Seoul teil
Ähnlich wie Lee Ok-Seong ging es auch den anderen Frauen, die die Qualen der "Troststationen" überlebt hatten. Sie versuchten, irgendwie wieder Fuß zu fassen, trauten sich aber nicht, über das, was ihnen passiert war, zu sprechen. Aus Angst, ausgegrenzt zu werden und Schande über die Familie zu bringen. Zwangsprostitution sei ein absolutes Tabu gewesen, erklärt Bernd Stöver. "Gesellschaftlichen Rückhalt gab es nicht. Damit an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen hätte bedeutet, dass man danach außerhalb der Gesellschaft steht." Sowohl in Korea als auch in Japan existierte das Thema nach dem Ende des Krieges daher praktisch nicht. Es sollte Jahrzehnte dauern, bis sich daran etwas änderte.
Unaufgearbeitete Vergangenheit und Nationalismus
Erst 1991 ging die erste ehemalige "Trostfrau" mit ihrer Geschichte an die Öffentlichkeit. Ihr Schritt ermutigte mehr als 250 weitere Frauen, es ebenso zu machen, endlich zu reden und eine Entschuldigung sowie Entschädigung von Seiten der japanischen Regierung zu fordern. Seitdem treffen sich jeden Mittwoch Betroffene, Angehörige und Unterstützer vor der japanischen Botschaft in Seoul. Sie halten Transparente hoch, skandieren Parolen. Doch bislang haben sie nicht bekommen, was sie sich wünschen.
Denn Japan tue sich schwer mit diesem dunklen Kapitel der eigenen - unaufgearbeiteten - Kriegsvergangenheit, erklärt der Potsdamer Historiker Bernd Stöver. Zwar wurde in Japan 1993 eine von der Regierung beauftragte Studie veröffentlicht, die sowohl die Existenz der "Trostfrauen" als auch die Rolle des japanischen Militärs offiziell anerkannte. "In der Folge hat sie die japanische Regierung auch mehrfach entschuldigt. Aber sie hat nie wirklich Konsequenzen daraus gezogen", so Stöver.
Es habe sich dabei immer nur um einzelne Entschuldigungen gehandelt, nicht um ein umfassendes Schuldeingeständnis - inklusive offizieller Entschädigungszahlungen. Abgesehen von einigen Hundert Einzelentschädigungen aus Mitteln eines von der Regierung eingesetzten privaten Fonds haben die Frauen bis heute kein Geld erhalten. Und das werden sie voraussichtlich auch nicht mehr. "2007 hat das Oberste Gericht entschieden, dass sie keinen Anspruch auf Entschädigungen haben."
Für die Opfer ein Schlag ins Gesicht. Bis heute kommt es immer wieder vor, dass vor allem nationalistische Politiker in Japan die Existenz der "Troststationen" schlicht leugnen. Oder verharmlosen, was dort passierte. So sagte beispielsweise der derzeit wieder amtierende Premierminister Shinzo Abe während seiner ersten Amtzeit im Frühjahr 2007, es gebe "keinen Beweis dafür, dass Zwang auf die Frauen ausgeübt" worden sei. Später entschuldigte sich Abe für seine heftig kritisierte Aussage.
Toru Hashimoto von der Seite aufgenommen an einem Mikrofon sitzend (Foto: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/GettyImages)
Toru Hashimoto sorgte mit seiner Rechtfertigung der "Troststationen" für Empörung
Erst im Frühjahr 2013 sorgte ein weiterer japanischer Politiker im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema für Schlagzeilen: Der Bürgermeister von Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, bezeichnete gegenüber Journalisten Sexsklaverei in Kriegszeiten als "notwendig", um die Disziplin innerhalb der Truppe zu wahren. Eine ungeheuerliche Aussage, findet Lee Ok-Seon. "Ich kann nicht begreifen, wie man so etwas behaupten kann. Wer nicht sehen will, was damals passiert ist, was die Japaner getan haben, der ist für mich kein Mensch."
Keine Familie mehr in Korea
Historisches Passfoto von Lee Ok-Seon (Foto: Privat)
Lee Ok-Seon will sich bis zu ihrem Lebensende für die Interessen der "Trostfrauen" einsetzen
Lee Ok-Seon lebt mittlerweile wieder in Südkorea. Im Jahr 2000 - nach dem Tod ihres chinesischen Mannes - verspürte sie schließlich doch noch den Drang, zurückzukehren und ihre Geschichte öffentlich zu machen. Seitdem lebt sie in der Nähe von Seoul im sogenannten "House of Sharing", einem betreuten Wohnprojekt für ehemalige Zwangsprostituierte. Dort wurde sie erstmals auch psychologisch betreut, bekam Hilfe im Alltag. Und endlich wieder einen neuen Pass.
Bei den Nachforschungen zu ihrer Person erfuhr sie, dass ihre Eltern mittlerweile verstorben waren. Ihr jüngster Bruder aber lebte noch. Er half bei der Rekonstruktion ihrer Daten. Doch dann verlief der Kontakt im Sand. Denn genau das, wovor Lee Ok-Seon sich immer gefürchtet hatte, trat ein: Der Bruder wollte nichts mit ihr zu tun haben. Zu sehr schämte er sich, dass seine Schwester eine ehemalige "Trostfrau" ist.
(Quelle: DE.DE. Autor Esther Felden )
http://www.hermuseum.go.kr/bbs/bbs_view.asp?s_top=7&s_left=3&idx=1045
❑ 한국인 `위안부의 지옥
(Die Hölle einer koreanischen "Trostfrau" / 독일 Deutsche Welle, 9.3)
이옥선 할머니는 3년 동안 일본군 위안소에서 지옥의 나날을 보냈다. 강간당하고, 굴욕당하고, 매질을 당했다. 이 지옥의 경험은 아직까지도 그녀의 몸과 마음에 나타나 있다.
바로 그 날에 대해 그녀는 막힘없이 이야기를 풀어냈다. 부산의 대로변에 남자들이 나타났다. 늦은 오후 5시 혹은 6시 사이였다. 그들은 닥치는 대로 소녀들을 잡아 차에 태웠다. 그 소녀들은 모두 중국에 있는 소위 “위안소”로 끌려갔다. 당시 그녀는 14살이었다. 그 때만해도 그녀는 당시 자신이 앞으로 60년이 넘도록 고향 땅을 밟지 못하게 될 것이며, 부모님 또한 그녀를 다시 보게 될 희망을 포기하게 될 것이라고는 상상 조차 하지 못했다. 그리고 그녀에게 앞으로 어떤 고통이 시작될지 전혀 알지 못했다.
2차 대전이 끝날 때까지 3년 동안 그녀는 중국 길림성의 위안소에 있었다. 매일 일본 군인들에게 매춘을 제공하도록 강요당했다. 이미 86세의 노인이 된 그녀는 그 당시 그 고문에 대해 자세하게 설명하지는 않는다. 단 한 문장으로 정리한다. “거기는 사람 사는 곳이 아니었어요. 도살장이었지.” 이 말을 할 때 그녀의 목소리는 더 강하게 울린다. 그곳에서 보낸 3년의 시간이 그녀의 일생 모두를 결정해 버렸다. “전쟁이 끝나고 다들 자유의 몸이 되었는데 나는 아니었어요.”
그녀는 이후 60년 동안 그곳에서 있었던 일에 대해 침묵했다. 하지만 그녀의 운명은 그녀 혼자만 겪은 것이 아니었다. 얼마나 많은 소녀들이 그녀와 같은 일을 겪어야 했는지 아직 정확히 알려지지 않았다. 포츠담 대학교 역사학자 베른트 슈퉤퍼 씨는 “약 20만 명 정도라고 추정하고 있어요. 하지만 정확히 확인된 숫자는 아니에요.”라고 말한다. “위안부”라는 단어 자체가 역사학자 입장에서는 잘못된 말이다. “기본적으로 그 단어는 잘못된 것입니다. 그들은 강제로 매춘을 해야 했어요. 위안부라는 표현은 이를 과소평가하는데서 비롯된 말입니다.”
일본 식민지였던 한국의 소녀들만 이처럼 강제매춘부로 끌려간 것은 아니다. 일본이 점령했던 모든 국가들에서 소녀들이 이처럼 끌려갔다. 예를 들어 중국, 말레이시아, 필리핀의 소녀들도 끌려갔다. 공식적으로 “위안부”들의 임무는 일본군의 전투정신을 향상시키고 점령지역에서 일본 군인들의 성폭행을 방지하기 위해 봉사하는 것이라고 했다. 하지만 실제 그녀들이 감내해야 했던 것은 고통이었다. 그리고 그들 대부분 어린 소녀들이었다. 그들 다수가 그 고통을 견디지 못했다. 그들 중 약 3분의 2가 종전 전에 사망한 것으로 추정하고 있다.
수치로 인한 침묵
이옥선 할머니는 말한다. “우리는 자주 매 맞고, 위협당하고, 칼부림 당했어요. “우리 나이가 다들 11살, 12살, 13살, 14살 정도였는데 누군가 우리를 구출해 줄 것이라곤 생각도 못했죠.” 위안소에 있는 동안 그들은 외부세계로부터 완전히 차단당했다. 어느 누구도 믿지 못하게 되었다. 모든 것을 의심했다. “물에 빠지거나 목을 매 자살을 시도하는 소녀들도 많이 있었어요.” 이옥선 할머니 또한 스스로 더 이상 다른 길이 없다고 좌절하며 자살하고 싶던 시기가 있었다. 하지만 그녀는 마음을 고쳐먹었다. “난 정말이지 죽고 싶다고 생각했는데 실제로 이를 행동으로 옮기는 게 너무 어렵더라고요. 너무 큰일이거든요.”
이옥선 할머니는 당시 그 일이 “너무 부끄러운 일이었어요.”라고 말한다. 그녀는 자살하지 않았고 전쟁 끝까지 살아남았다. 1945년 늦여름 일본이 항복하면서 어느 날 밤 위안소 관리자들이 모두 사라져버렸다. 느닷없이 자유의 몸이 된 것이다. 그러나 그녀들은 어디로 가야할지 갈피를 잡지 못했다. “도대체 어디로 가야할지 종잡을 수 없었어요. 돈도 없고 집도 없어 길거리에서 자야 했어요.” 고국으로 돌아가려면 어디로 가야하는지도 몰랐지만 절대 돌아가고 싶지 않았다. 너무 부끄러웠기 때문이다. “그냥 중국에서 살다가 죽고 싶었어요. 이런 상태로 어떻게 고향에 갈 수 있겠어요? 얼굴에 ”위안부“라고 써져 있는 것 같은데. 엄마 얼굴을 제대로 볼 수 없을 것 같았어요.”
중국에서의 삶
이옥선 할머니는 아이들이 딸린 한국계 남자를 만나 결혼했다. “엄마 없는 그 아이들을 기르는 것이 나의 의무다고 생각했어요.” “저는 애를 낳을 수 없었거든요.” 이옥선 할머니는 자궁이 없다. 위안소에서 자주 걸렸던 성병들 때문에 위안소를 떠난 후에 죽음의 문턱을 거의 넘길 정도로 아팠다. 목숨을 구하기 위해 자궁을 적출했다.
중국의 연길에서 그녀는 쥐죽은 듯 움츠린 삶을 살며 - 그녀의 표현 그대로 - 다시 두 발로 설 힘을 찾으려 안간힘을 썼다. 그렇게 수십 년이 또 흘렀다. 그녀의 남편은 그녀에게 잘해줬다. 이 말을 하며 이옥선 할머니가 처음으로 웃었다. “안 그랬으면 그 양반이랑 그렇게 오래 못살았지.”
“위안소”에서 그 지옥을 견뎌낸 다른 여성들도 모두 이옥선 할머니와 같은 삶을 살아야 했다. 그들은 스스로의 힘으로 살기 위해 안간힘을 썼다. 하지만 그 때 무슨 일이 있었는지 스스로 말하게 될 거라곤 생각하지 않았다. 가족들에게 수치를 주게 될까봐 두려웠기 때문이다. 베른트 슈퉤버 씨의 말에 따르면 위안부 문제에 대해 이야기하는 것은 완전한 타부였다. “사회적 배려는 전혀 없었다. 이 문제를 공론화하는 것은 그 사회 밖으로 떠밀리는 것을 각오해야 하는 일이었다.” 한국뿐만 아니라 일본에서도 전쟁이 끝난 이후 이 문제에 대한 이야기는 전혀 이루어지지 않았다. 지금처럼 말할 수 있게 되기까지 수십 년이 흘러야 했다.
청산되지 않은 과거 그리고 민족주의
“위안부” 문제가 처음 공론화된 것은 1991년이었다. 250명의 여성들이 용기를 내어 이 과거에 대해 이야기하고 일본 정부의 사과와 배상을 요구하기 시작했다. 그 때부터 매주 수요일 이 여인들과 뜻을 같이 하는 시민들이 함께 모여 서울의 일본대사관 앞에서 피켓을 들고 구호를 외치고 있다. 그러나 일본정부는 아직까지 그녀들의 요구사항 중 단 한 가지도 들어주지 않았다.
베른트 슈퉤버 씨에 따르면 일본은 청산되지 않은 과거사 문제에 대해 거의 아무런 대응도 하지 않고 있다. 1993년 일본정부의 의뢰로 이루어진 한 연구결과 “위안부”가 존재했다는 사실, 그리고 거기에 일본군이 관여했음이 확인되었는데도 불구하고 말이다. “일본정부가 그 뒤 몇 번 사과하기는 했지만 실질적인 결과물을 만들어내지는 않았다.” 라고 슈퉤버 씨는 말한다.
개별사항에 대한 각각의 사과는 있었지만 포괄적인 잘못인정은 한 번도 하지 않았다. 보상도 마찬가지다. 일본정부에 의해 만들어진 민간 보상기금은 이들 여인들에게 한 푼도 보상한 적이 없다. 앞으로도 그럴 것으로 보인다. “2007년에 일본 대법원은 이 여인들이 보상청구권이 없다고 판결했다.”
희생자들의 가슴에 못을 박는 또 다른 일들도 벌어지고 있다. 일본의 민족주의적 정치가들이 “위안소”의 존재사실 자체를 부인하거나 거기서 별다른 일이 벌어지지 않았다고 주장하고 있다. 예를 들어 일본의 아베 총리는 2007년 첫 번째 재임 중 “여성들이 강요당했다는 증거가 없다.”고 주장했다. 물론 엄청난 비난에 몰리자 사과하기는 했다.
올해 초 또 다른 유명 정치인이 헤드라인을 장식했다. 토루 하시모토 오사카 시장은 기자들 앞에서 전쟁기간에 군인들의 군기를 잡기 위해 성적 노예는 “필요한 것”이라고 말한 것이다. 이 끔찍한 발언에 대해 이옥선 할머니는 말한다. “사람이라면 어떻게 그렇게 말할 수 있는지 이해할 수 없다. 일본이 그 때 무슨 짓을 저질렀는지, 도대체 무슨 일이 있었는지 알고 싶어 하지 않는 사람은 내 눈에는 더 이상 사람이 아니다.”
더 이상 한국에 가족은 없다.
이옥선 할머니는 지금 한국에서 살고 있다. 지난 2000년 남편이 죽은 후 고국으로 돌아가 그녀가 겪은 역사에 대해 말해야 한다고 느끼게 되었기 때문이다. 그 때부터 그녀는 서울 근교에 소재한 위안부 피해여성들을 위한 “나눔의 집”에서 살고 있다. 그 곳에서 그녀는 처음으로 심리 상담을 받았고 매일 치료를 받고 있다. 그리고 한국 국적도 얻었다.
한국에서 그녀는 부모님 모두 사망했으며 남동생이 생존해 있다는 사실을 알게 되었다. 그 남동생은 그녀의 주민등록정보를 새로 만드는데 도움을 주었다. 그런데 이후 연락이 끊겨 버렸다. 이옥선 할머니가 걱정하던 일이 벌어진 것이다. 남동생은 그녀와 더 이상 연결되기를 꺼린 것이다. 자신의 누나가 “위안부”였다는 사실이 부끄럽기 때문에.
Former comfort woman tells uncomforting story
Lee Ok-Seon spent three years in a Japanese military brothel in China against her will during WW II. Nearly 70 years after the surrender of Japan, she visited Germany to make her story known.
Lee Ok-Seong, (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima)
Yi Ok-sun 李玉善（イ・オクソン、이옥선）
慰安婦（いあんふ、위안부[1]、Comfort Women）
Bravely, she talks about that tragic day when she was abducted off the street in the southeastern city of Busan by a group of men. It was late afternoon - sometime between 5 and 6 pm, and Lee Ok-Seon was 14 years old when she was thrown into a car and trafficked to a brothel, a so-called "comfort station," in China for the Japanese military where she was raped every day until the end of the war. At that moment, she had no idea that she would never see her family again nor step foot in her home country for nearly six decades. She had no idea what torture awaited her.
The 86-year-old woman does not give specific details as to what she experienced there. She summarizes it in one sentence: "It was not a place for human beings. It was a slaughter house." After she says that, her voice sounds harder. Those three years shaped the rest of her life. "When the war was over, others were set free, but not me."
Another name for sex slaves
Lee Ok-Seong sits on a bed (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) Lee kept her dark secret to herself for nearly 60 years
Lee Ok-Seon's is not an isolated case, although it is not known exactly how many other women shared the same fate. "According to estimates, there must have been around 200,000 such women. But this has never been confirmed," explains Bernd Stöver, a historian at Potsdam University. He finds it unnerving that the women are referred to as "comfort women," a "euphemism for what they really were: sex slaves."
It was not only women from the Korean Peninsula, which was under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945, who were forced into prostitution; there were also women from China, Malaysia and the Philippines, to name a few. The brothels, which were set up throughout the entire area under Japanese occupation, were meant to keep up morale among Japanese soldiers and avoid the rape of local women. For the mostly underage women forced to work there, on the other hand, it was a daily sacrifice. Many of them did not survive the torment; an estimated two thirds of them died before the end of the war.
Overwhelming shame
"We were often beaten, threatened and attacked with knives," Lee Ok-Seon remembers. "We were 11, 12, 13 or 14 years old and we didn't believe anyone would save us from that hell." During her time there, she explains, she was completely isolated from the outside world and trusted no one. It was a state of constant despair. "Many girls committed suicide. They drowned or hung themselves." At one point she also thought this was her only alternative. But she couldn't do it. "It is easy to say, 'I'd rather be dead.' It is so much more difficult to actually do it. That is a big step."
Lee Ok-Seong standing outside near a tree(Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) In Cologne, Lee Ok-Seong talked about the 'overwhelming shame' of her past
Lee Ok-Seon decided to live and ended up surviving the war. After the Japanese capitulation in late summer of 1945, the owner of the brothel disappeared. The women were suddenly free again, but also confused and disoriented. "I didn't know where I should go. I had no money. I was homeless and had to sleep on the streets."
She didn't know how to get back to Korea or if she really wanted to go back - the shame she felt was overwhelming. "I decided I would rather spend the rest of my days in China. How could I have gone home? It was written on my face that I was a comfort woman. I could have never looked my mother in the eyes again."
New life in China
Lee Ok-Seon met a man of Korean descent, married him and took care of his children. "I felt it was my duty to take care of these children, whose mother had died. I wasn't able to have any children of my own." As a result of sexually transmitted diseases, such as Syphilis, contracted in the brothel, she became so sick that she nearly died. To increase her chances of survival, doctors removed her uterus. She lived in the city of Yanji, kept to herself and tried to get back on her feet - all on her own. She spent decades like this. Her husband treated her well, she laughs, "otherwise I wouldn't have put up with him for so long."
Lee Ok-Seong, in the front row in the middle, stands with other former sex slaves and their supporters and protests in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima) Since 2000, Lee, front row, middle, has met with other victims and her supporters outside the Japanese embassy every week
Many comfort women lived a similar life after the brothels, keeping to themselves and keeping quiet about the horrors they experienced - mostly out of fear of being labeled an outcast. According to Stöver, talking about forced prostitution is an absolute taboo. "There was no support in society for these women." It took decades after the end of the war to get people talking about comfort women in Asia.
It wasn't until the year 1991 that the first former "comfort woman" went public with her story. She encouraged and inspired 250 other women to finally talk about their experiences as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the war and demand recognition and an apology from the Japanese government. Since then, the women and their supporters meet every Wednesday outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. They hold placards and shout slogans. But they have yet to receive what they demand.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto speaks at a policy debate to establish the new national party 'Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Association)' in Osaka, September 2012. (Photo: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/GettyImages) Toru Hashimoto's statement about the necessity of 'comfort stations' caused outrage
Japan has trouble dealing with its dark past, according to historian Stöver. The government in 1993 did commission and publish a study officially recognizing the existence of "comfort women" and the role of Japanese soldiers. "After that, the government did apologize on multiple occasions. But it never really drew any consequences."
Stöver explained the apologies were isolated occurrences; there was never a full admission of guilt nor was there any official financial compensation program. Aside from payments made to a few hundred people by a fund set up by the government, the women have received no money. And it is not likely they will in the future: "In 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court decided they have no claim to damages."
A bitter pill for the victims. And even today, on occasion, Japanese politicians simply deny the existence of the comfort women. Or they play it down. During his time in office in early 2007, incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for example, said there was "no proof that the women were forced" to work in the brothels. He later apologized for the statement.
Earlier this year, Toru Hashimoto, governor of Osaka, told journalists that in times of war, sex slavery was "necessary" to keep the discipline among the troops. Lee Ok-Seon thinks the statement is crass and outrageous: "I cannot grasp how anyone can say such a thing. Whoever refuses to accept what the Japanese did back then is not a human being."
Back home but alone
Lee Ok-Seon now lives in South Korea. In 2000, after the death of her husband, she felt the urge to go back to her country of origin and make her story public. She has since lived near Seoul in the so-called "House of Sharing," which provides assisted living for former sex slaves. It was there that she received psychological care for the first time. And she finally received a new passport.
Researching her past, she learned that her parents had died but that her youngest brother was still alive. He helped her in the beginning but after a while, the relationship deteriorated. It was exactly what Lee Ok-Seon had feared: too embarrassed to be the brother of a former "comfort woman," he wanted nothing to do with her.
DW.DE
Japan's regional isolation higher than ever
Japan's neighbors are getting wary of PM Shinzo Abe and his center-right government. At home, however, Abe is bucking the trend of his immediate predecessors and riding high in the opinion polls. (20.05.2013)
Asia irks Japan over 'comfort women' legacy
Japan believes it has apologized sufficiently for the excesses of its military in the first half of the last century, but its neighbors feel the government in Tokyo continues to gloss over the atrocities. (18.03.2013)
The rocky rapprochement between Japan and China
China has canceled festivities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Japan due to the two countries' increasingly vitriolic spat over disputed islands in the East China Sea. (28.09.2012)
http://sikoken.blog.shinobi.jp/%E6%85%B0%E5%AE%89%E5%A9%A6%E8%A8%BC%E8%A8%80/%E6%9D%8E%E7%8E%89%E5%96%84%EF%BC%88%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%89
Lee Ok-Seong, (Photo: Tsukasa Yajima)
Yi Ok-sun 李玉善（イ・オクソン、이옥선）
慰安婦（いあんふ、위안부[1]、Comfort Women）
Yanji 延吉 · 연길
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanji
[her background, upbringing of why she became to the comfort women]
she was born in October 1927 (Note), in the poor house of Pusan, South Korea.
at her age of 14, she was sold as adopted daughter of the bar, moreover sold to another bar.
in July 1942, she was abducted on the errand, forced hard work,assaulted and raped in the northeastern part of China,at the airfield of Yanji.
About one year later, she was put in the comfort station of the same city.
she could not return to Korea after released,
she backed South Korea after 58 year in June 2000.
(Note) in 1928 on the family register,
※李玉仙と表記される場合もあり
【生い立ち・慰安婦になった経緯等】
1927年10月（注）、韓国釜山の貧しい家に生まれる。14歳の時、飲み屋の養女として売られ、さらに、別の飲み屋に売られる。
1942年7月、店のお使いの最中に拉致され、中国東北部、延吉の飛行場で重労働させられると共に暴行・強姦される。約1年後、同市内の慰安所に入れられる。
解放後も故郷に戻れず、2000年6月、58年ぶりに韓国へ帰国した。
（注）戸籍上は1928年
【慰安所までの移動時の公権力・軍の関与等】
日本人と朝鮮人の男二人に拉致されﾄﾗｯｸで駅まで行き、汽車で延吉（満州）まで連れて行かれる。そこの日本軍の飛行場で働かされ、強姦される。約一年後、延吉市内の慰安所に入れられる。（「証言 未来への記憶 ｱｼﾞｱ『慰安婦』証言集Ⅰ」より）
http://www.dw.de/asia-irks-japan-over-comfort-women-legacy/a-16680686
HISTORY
Asia irks Japan over 'comfort women' legacy
Japan believes it has apologized sufficiently for the excesses of its military in the first half of the last century, but its neighbors feel the government in Tokyo continues to gloss over the atrocities.
Chinese to be buried alive by Japanese soldiers during Nanking Massacre. In 2008, another photo which presents the same scene was discovered in Japan verifies its authenticity[1]. 《日寇暴行实录》配图标题：南京寇军活埋我同胞之惨状
Datum 1937/38
Quelle First published in: A Faithful Record of Atrocity of Japanese Troops, 1938
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-U1002-502 / CC-BY-SA
Japan's neighbors feel that the right-of-center government is again planning to gloss over the atrocities wrought upon the rest of Asia in the 20th century. The issue of "comfort women", in particular, is likely to be the first place any revisions to history are likely to be seen, argue Tokyo's detractors.
South Korea and China are stepping up their demands that Japan face up to its sexual enslavement of thousands of women - euphemistically known as "comfort women" - across large parts of Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Representatives of the two governments told the United Nations' Human Rights Council that it was high time Japan apologized and provided compensation.
Choi Seok-young, the South Korena ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the council on Thursday (14.03.2013) that, "Japan must accept legal responsibility and take appropriate measures."
That opinion was echoed by the delegation of the Philippines, while China's Liu Zhenmin demanded that Tokyo provide redress.
Takashi Okada, Japan's deputy ambassador to the UN, was quick to reply that his nation had already done its best to make amends and urged other nations not to turn the comfort women into a political issue.
'Immeasurable pain'
Protesters hold signs during their 1,000th weekly rally to demand an official apology and compensation for wartime sex slaves from the Japanese government near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Protesters in South Korea have repeatedly demanded compensation from Japan for wartime sex slaves
"The government of Japan feels grieved at the thought of those who suffered such immeasurable pain," he said, using terms similar to a statement issued in 1993 by Yohei Kono, then the chief cabinet secretary.
In that statement, which admitted that Japan had "at times" recruited women "against their will," Kono made "sincere apologies" for the "immeasurable pain and suffering" inflicted on comfort women. Tokyo maintained, however, that all issues of compensation had been settled by the 1965 Japan-South Korea treaty and the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Historians have estimated that around 200,000 women - primarily from China, Korea and the Philippines - were forced to provide sexual services to troops of the Imperial Japanese forces, although there are many in Japan who believe the scale of the problem has been vastly exaggerated. Others argue that comfort women were little more than licensed prostitutes who were paid well for their services, while others were sold into the sex trade by impoverished parents. In either case, they claim, Japan cannot be held responsible.
Some have gone as far as to suggest that the Kono Statement be withdrawn, while there are indications that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to oversee a major reconsideration of Japan's self-perception of history if he fares well in elections for the Upper House of parliament in July.
There are also plans afoot to alter the Japanese constitution, giving the military more leeway in handling international disputes. Furthermore, revisions to an education system that some conservatives have criticized as "masochistic" are also being considered, as is a harder line in dealing with China and South Korea in everything from territorial issues to the different perceptions of history.
No evidence
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a news conference next to the national flag, which is hung with a black ribbon as a symbol of mourning for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, at his official residence in Tokyo March 11, 2013. Japan honoured the victims of its worst disaster since World War Two on Monday: the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that killed almost 19,000 people and stranded 315,000 evacuees, including refugees who fled radiation from the devastated Fukushima atomic plant. REUTERS/Yuya Shino (JAPAN - Tags: POLITICS DISASTER ANNIVERSARY) Prime Minister Abe is said to be planning changes to the Japanese constitution
In his previous spell as prime minister in 2007, Abe triggered a storm or protest from Japan's neighbors when he claimed no concrete evidence had been found that proves women were forcibly recruited into sexual slavery in military brothels.
That opinion is shared by nationalist groups, including the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact. Hiromichi Moteki, secretary general of the group, says his aim is to translate books and historical documents and to provide that information to scholars and historians around the world so that they might re-evaluate the"evil empire" image of Japan of the early decades of the last century.
Moteki dismisses the latest Chinese and South Korean complaints to the UN as "ridiculous."
"These allegations are all fabricated," he insists. "They have no basis in fact at all and we have verified these facts."
Several historians have written papers on the accuracy of the comfort women's claims and how they came to be in the sex industry, with Moteki's group unsurprisingly promoting documents that support its position.
Kohyu Nishimura, for example, concluded in a paper issued earlier this year that "anti-Japanese agitators" are bending historical facts to psychologically "weaken and degrade" the Japanese people. And at the heart of this operation are "China and Korea and their anti-Japanese fellow travelers, which doggedly repeat the same malicious claims against Japan."
Lashing out at Japan
Former South Korean comfort women Lee Oak-sun who was forced to serve for the Japanese Imperial Army as a sexual slave during World War II talks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Nanumui Jip, The House of Sharing, in Gwangju, south of Seoul, Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Calls for Japan's apology for so-called comfort women flared anew last week after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there was no proof that the women were coerced into prostitution.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) One of the last Korean 'comfort women' is still demanding an apology
The US and its media used the issue to "lash out at Japan for its economic dominance in the '80s," he said, adding that it was also used as "a warning shot to Japan against becoming too 'uppity' in the conduct of policy with its neighbors."
But Moteki's protestations are arguably tarnished by the society's claims that Japan was not to blame for any of the terrible things that happened across Asia in the early decades of the last century.
He claims that China triggered the Sino-Japanese War in August 1937. He maintains that there was no massacre of 300,000 civilians in Nanking four months later and that the United States provoked Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, while the annexation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910 was inevitable because the kingdom was unable to maintain its independence. Moteki also argues that Japanese control brought great benefits to the Korean people in the form of schools, hospitals and infrastructure.
Whatever the truth behind the claims and counter-claims, Prime Minister Abe must be aware that any attempt to rewrite history poses a significant threat of triggering a new outbreak of fury among Japan's already fractious neighbors.
http://frankfurt.china-consulate.org/det/zg/t1074271.htm
Die Hölle einer koreanischen "Trostfrau" im Krieg Japans gegen China
2013-09-09
Schwarz-Weiß-Aufnahme von Lee Ok-Seon in einer U-Bahn (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Drei Jahre ging Lee Ok-Seon in einem japanischen Militärbordell durch die Hölle. Sie wurde vergewaltigt, gedemütigt, geschlagen. Bis heute ist sie davon gezeichnet. Körperlich und seelisch.
Ohne zu stocken erzählt sie von dem Tag, an dem es passierte: Auf offener Straße, in Busan, ganz im Südosten der koreanischen Halbinsel, schlugen die Männer zu. Es war später Nachmittag, irgendwann zwischen 17 und 18 Uhr, erinnert sich Lee Ok-Seon. Sie packten das Mädchen unter den Armen, zerrten es in ein Fahrzeug. Dann brachten sie es in eine sogenannte "Troststation" im Nordwesten Chinas. Lee Ok-Seon war 14 Jahre alt. Sie ahnte nicht, dass sie ihr Heimatland fast sechs Jahrzehnte nicht wiedersehen würde. Dass ihre Eltern irgendwann die Hoffnung auf ein Wiedersehen begraben und sie für tot erklären lassen würden. Und sie wusste auch nicht, welche Qualen ihr bevorstanden.
Drei Jahre - bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges - verbrachte Lee Ok-Seon in diesem Militärbordell in der Provinz Jilin Chinas , wurde täglich zum Geschlechtsverkehr mit japanischen Soldaten gezwungen. Über die Details dieser Tortur spricht die heute 86-Jährige nicht, sie fasst die Erfahrung in einem Satz zusammen. "Das war kein Ort für Menschen, das war ein Schlachthof." Ihre Stimme klingt härter, als sie das sagt. Die drei Jahre dort haben ihr ganzes Leben geprägt. "Der Krieg ist längst zu Ende, die anderen sind befreit worden, aber ich nicht."
Anderer Ausdruck für Sexsklavinnen
Lee Ok-Seon auf ihrem Bett mit einem Buch auf dem Schoß
(Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Sechzig Jahre schwieg Lee Ok-Seon über das, was ihr widerfahren war
Lee Ok-Seons Schicksal ist bei weitem kein Einzelfall. Allerdings: Wie vielen Frauen es ähnlich erging wie ihr, ist nicht bekannt. "Schätzungen zufolge sind es um die 200.000 gewesen, aber bestätigt ist diese Zahl nicht", erklärt Bernd Stöver, Historiker an der Universität Potsdam gegenüber der Deutschen Welle. Der Begriff "Trostfrauen" an sich - oder auf Englisch "comfort women" - erzeugt aus Sicht des Historikers ein schiefes Bild. "Im Grunde genommen ist er falsch. Es waren Zwangsprostituierte. Trostfrauen werden sie nur verharmlosend genannt."
Nicht nur Mädchen und Frauen aus dem seit 1905 von Japan besetzten Korea wurden als Zwangsprostituierte in die Bordelle verschleppt, die im gesamten damaligen Herrschaftsgebiet Japans eingerichtet wurden. Die Opfer stammten auch aus anderen Ländern: neben China beispielsweise aus Malaysia oder den Philippinen. Offiziell dienten die "Troststationen" dazu, den Kampfgeist der japanischen Armee zu steigern - und Frauen in den besetzten Gebieten vor Vergewaltigungen durch japanische Soldaten zu schützen. Für die meist minderjährigen Frauen in den "Troststationen" allerdings bedeuteten sie ein tägliches Martyrium. Viele von ihnen überlebten die Qualen nicht, Schätzungen zufolge starben mehr als zwei Drittel vor Kriegsende.
Schweigen aus Scham und Schande
"Wir wurden oft geschlagen, bedroht, mit Messern verletzt", erinnert sich Lee Ok-Seon. "Wir waren elf, zwölf, dreizehn oder vierzehn Jahre alt und haben nicht daran geglaubt, dass uns jemand da herausholen würde." Sie sei während der Zeit im Bordell komplett von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten gewesen, habe niemandem vertraut. Die Verzweiflung sei allgegenwärtig gewesen. "Viele Mädchen haben versucht, sich das Leben zu nehmen. Sie haben sich ertränkt oder erhängt." Auch sie selbst war an einem Punkt, an dem sie keinen anderen Ausweg mehr sah, auch sie wollte zum Strick greifen. Doch dann überlegte sie es sich doch noch anders. "Es ist einfach zu sagen: Ich möchte am liebsten tot sein. Es ist ungleich schwieriger, es dann tatsächlich zu tun. Das ist ein großer Schritt."
Lee Ok-Seon an einen Baum gelehnt (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
"Es war eine so beschämende Erfahrung", sagt Lee Ok-Seon
Lee Ok-Seon schreckte zurück vor diesem Schritt - und überlebte den Krieg. Nach der japanischen Kapitulation im Spätsommer 1945 war der Besitzer des Bordells über Nacht verschwunden, die Mädchen waren plötzlich frei. Und vollkommen orientierungslos. "Ich wusste nicht, wo ich hingehen soll. Ich hatte kein Geld. Ich war obdachlos, habe auf der Straße geschlafen", erzählt sie. Den Weg nach Korea kannte sie nicht, wollte ihn auch gar nicht gehen. Zu groß sei die Scham gewesen. "Ich wollte lieber in China bleiben und hier sterben. Wie hätte ich nach Hause gehen können? Auf meinem Gesicht stand geschrieben, dass ich eine 'Trostfrau' bin. Ich hätte meiner Mutter nicht mehr ins Gesicht sehen können."
Ersatzleben in China
Lee Ok-Seon lernte einen koreanisch-stämmigen Mann in Jilin kennen, heiratete ihn, kümmerte sich um seine Kinder. "Ich habe es als meine Aufgabe angesehen, diese Kinder, deren Mutter gestorben war, großzuziehen." Sie knetet sich die Hände und fügt dann hinzu: "Ich selbst konnte ja keine bekommen." Lee Ok-Seon hat keine Gebärmutter mehr. In Folge von Geschlechtskrankheiten wie beispielsweise Syphilis, die sie sich im Bordell immer wieder zuzog, wurde sie nach ihrer Freilassung so krank, dass sie fast gestorben wäre. Um ihre Überlebenschancen zu erhöhen, wurde die Gebärmutter entfernt.
Im chinesischen Yanji lebte sie dann ein zurückgezogenes Leben und versuchte - wie sie es ausdrückt - aus eigener Kraft wieder auf die Beine zu kommen. So vergingen Jahrzehnte. Ihr Mann habe sie immer gut behandelt, sagt Lee Ok-Seon und lacht zum ersten Mal. "Sonst hätte ich es ja nicht so lange mit ihm ausgehalten."
Lee Ok-Seon gemeinsam mit anderen Opfern bei einer Demonstration: Die Frauen halten ein Transparent und haben die Arme erhoben (Foto: Tsukasa Yajima)
Seit 2000 nimmt auch Lee Ok-Seon (vordere Reihe Mitte) an den Demonstrationen ehemaliger "Trostfrauen" vor der japanischen Botschaft in Seoul teil
Ähnlich wie Lee Ok-Seong ging es auch den anderen Frauen, die die Qualen der "Troststationen" überlebt hatten. Sie versuchten, irgendwie wieder Fuß zu fassen, trauten sich aber nicht, über das, was ihnen passiert war, zu sprechen. Aus Angst, ausgegrenzt zu werden und Schande über die Familie zu bringen. Zwangsprostitution sei ein absolutes Tabu gewesen, erklärt Bernd Stöver. "Gesellschaftlichen Rückhalt gab es nicht. Damit an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen hätte bedeutet, dass man danach außerhalb der Gesellschaft steht." Sowohl in Korea als auch in Japan existierte das Thema nach dem Ende des Krieges daher praktisch nicht. Es sollte Jahrzehnte dauern, bis sich daran etwas änderte.
Unaufgearbeitete Vergangenheit und Nationalismus
Erst 1991 ging die erste ehemalige "Trostfrau" mit ihrer Geschichte an die Öffentlichkeit. Ihr Schritt ermutigte mehr als 250 weitere Frauen, es ebenso zu machen, endlich zu reden und eine Entschuldigung sowie Entschädigung von Seiten der japanischen Regierung zu fordern. Seitdem treffen sich jeden Mittwoch Betroffene, Angehörige und Unterstützer vor der japanischen Botschaft in Seoul. Sie halten Transparente hoch, skandieren Parolen. Doch bislang haben sie nicht bekommen, was sie sich wünschen.
Denn Japan tue sich schwer mit diesem dunklen Kapitel der eigenen - unaufgearbeiteten - Kriegsvergangenheit, erklärt der Potsdamer Historiker Bernd Stöver. Zwar wurde in Japan 1993 eine von der Regierung beauftragte Studie veröffentlicht, die sowohl die Existenz der "Trostfrauen" als auch die Rolle des japanischen Militärs offiziell anerkannte. "In der Folge hat sie die japanische Regierung auch mehrfach entschuldigt. Aber sie hat nie wirklich Konsequenzen daraus gezogen", so Stöver.
Es habe sich dabei immer nur um einzelne Entschuldigungen gehandelt, nicht um ein umfassendes Schuldeingeständnis - inklusive offizieller Entschädigungszahlungen. Abgesehen von einigen Hundert Einzelentschädigungen aus Mitteln eines von der Regierung eingesetzten privaten Fonds haben die Frauen bis heute kein Geld erhalten. Und das werden sie voraussichtlich auch nicht mehr. "2007 hat das Oberste Gericht entschieden, dass sie keinen Anspruch auf Entschädigungen haben."
Für die Opfer ein Schlag ins Gesicht. Bis heute kommt es immer wieder vor, dass vor allem nationalistische Politiker in Japan die Existenz der "Troststationen" schlicht leugnen. Oder verharmlosen, was dort passierte. So sagte beispielsweise der derzeit wieder amtierende Premierminister Shinzo Abe während seiner ersten Amtzeit im Frühjahr 2007, es gebe "keinen Beweis dafür, dass Zwang auf die Frauen ausgeübt" worden sei. Später entschuldigte sich Abe für seine heftig kritisierte Aussage.
Toru Hashimoto von der Seite aufgenommen an einem Mikrofon sitzend (Foto: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/GettyImages)
Toru Hashimoto sorgte mit seiner Rechtfertigung der "Troststationen" für Empörung
Erst im Frühjahr 2013 sorgte ein weiterer japanischer Politiker im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema für Schlagzeilen: Der Bürgermeister von Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, bezeichnete gegenüber Journalisten Sexsklaverei in Kriegszeiten als "notwendig", um die Disziplin innerhalb der Truppe zu wahren. Eine ungeheuerliche Aussage, findet Lee Ok-Seon. "Ich kann nicht begreifen, wie man so etwas behaupten kann. Wer nicht sehen will, was damals passiert ist, was die Japaner getan haben, der ist für mich kein Mensch."
Keine Familie mehr in Korea
Historisches Passfoto von Lee Ok-Seon (Foto: Privat)
Lee Ok-Seon will sich bis zu ihrem Lebensende für die Interessen der "Trostfrauen" einsetzen
Lee Ok-Seon lebt mittlerweile wieder in Südkorea. Im Jahr 2000 - nach dem Tod ihres chinesischen Mannes - verspürte sie schließlich doch noch den Drang, zurückzukehren und ihre Geschichte öffentlich zu machen. Seitdem lebt sie in der Nähe von Seoul im sogenannten "House of Sharing", einem betreuten Wohnprojekt für ehemalige Zwangsprostituierte. Dort wurde sie erstmals auch psychologisch betreut, bekam Hilfe im Alltag. Und endlich wieder einen neuen Pass.
Bei den Nachforschungen zu ihrer Person erfuhr sie, dass ihre Eltern mittlerweile verstorben waren. Ihr jüngster Bruder aber lebte noch. Er half bei der Rekonstruktion ihrer Daten. Doch dann verlief der Kontakt im Sand. Denn genau das, wovor Lee Ok-Seon sich immer gefürchtet hatte, trat ein: Der Bruder wollte nichts mit ihr zu tun haben. Zu sehr schämte er sich, dass seine Schwester eine ehemalige "Trostfrau" ist.
(Quelle: DE.DE. Autor Esther Felden )
http://www.hermuseum.go.kr/bbs/bbs_view.asp?s_top=7&s_left=3&idx=1045
❑ 한국인 `위안부의 지옥
(Die Hölle einer koreanischen "Trostfrau" / 독일 Deutsche Welle, 9.3)
이옥선 할머니는 3년 동안 일본군 위안소에서 지옥의 나날을 보냈다. 강간당하고, 굴욕당하고, 매질을 당했다. 이 지옥의 경험은 아직까지도 그녀의 몸과 마음에 나타나 있다.
바로 그 날에 대해 그녀는 막힘없이 이야기를 풀어냈다. 부산의 대로변에 남자들이 나타났다. 늦은 오후 5시 혹은 6시 사이였다. 그들은 닥치는 대로 소녀들을 잡아 차에 태웠다. 그 소녀들은 모두 중국에 있는 소위 “위안소”로 끌려갔다. 당시 그녀는 14살이었다. 그 때만해도 그녀는 당시 자신이 앞으로 60년이 넘도록 고향 땅을 밟지 못하게 될 것이며, 부모님 또한 그녀를 다시 보게 될 희망을 포기하게 될 것이라고는 상상 조차 하지 못했다. 그리고 그녀에게 앞으로 어떤 고통이 시작될지 전혀 알지 못했다.
2차 대전이 끝날 때까지 3년 동안 그녀는 중국 길림성의 위안소에 있었다. 매일 일본 군인들에게 매춘을 제공하도록 강요당했다. 이미 86세의 노인이 된 그녀는 그 당시 그 고문에 대해 자세하게 설명하지는 않는다. 단 한 문장으로 정리한다. “거기는 사람 사는 곳이 아니었어요. 도살장이었지.” 이 말을 할 때 그녀의 목소리는 더 강하게 울린다. 그곳에서 보낸 3년의 시간이 그녀의 일생 모두를 결정해 버렸다. “전쟁이 끝나고 다들 자유의 몸이 되었는데 나는 아니었어요.”
그녀는 이후 60년 동안 그곳에서 있었던 일에 대해 침묵했다. 하지만 그녀의 운명은 그녀 혼자만 겪은 것이 아니었다. 얼마나 많은 소녀들이 그녀와 같은 일을 겪어야 했는지 아직 정확히 알려지지 않았다. 포츠담 대학교 역사학자 베른트 슈퉤퍼 씨는 “약 20만 명 정도라고 추정하고 있어요. 하지만 정확히 확인된 숫자는 아니에요.”라고 말한다. “위안부”라는 단어 자체가 역사학자 입장에서는 잘못된 말이다. “기본적으로 그 단어는 잘못된 것입니다. 그들은 강제로 매춘을 해야 했어요. 위안부라는 표현은 이를 과소평가하는데서 비롯된 말입니다.”
일본 식민지였던 한국의 소녀들만 이처럼 강제매춘부로 끌려간 것은 아니다. 일본이 점령했던 모든 국가들에서 소녀들이 이처럼 끌려갔다. 예를 들어 중국, 말레이시아, 필리핀의 소녀들도 끌려갔다. 공식적으로 “위안부”들의 임무는 일본군의 전투정신을 향상시키고 점령지역에서 일본 군인들의 성폭행을 방지하기 위해 봉사하는 것이라고 했다. 하지만 실제 그녀들이 감내해야 했던 것은 고통이었다. 그리고 그들 대부분 어린 소녀들이었다. 그들 다수가 그 고통을 견디지 못했다. 그들 중 약 3분의 2가 종전 전에 사망한 것으로 추정하고 있다.
수치로 인한 침묵
이옥선 할머니는 말한다. “우리는 자주 매 맞고, 위협당하고, 칼부림 당했어요. “우리 나이가 다들 11살, 12살, 13살, 14살 정도였는데 누군가 우리를 구출해 줄 것이라곤 생각도 못했죠.” 위안소에 있는 동안 그들은 외부세계로부터 완전히 차단당했다. 어느 누구도 믿지 못하게 되었다. 모든 것을 의심했다. “물에 빠지거나 목을 매 자살을 시도하는 소녀들도 많이 있었어요.” 이옥선 할머니 또한 스스로 더 이상 다른 길이 없다고 좌절하며 자살하고 싶던 시기가 있었다. 하지만 그녀는 마음을 고쳐먹었다. “난 정말이지 죽고 싶다고 생각했는데 실제로 이를 행동으로 옮기는 게 너무 어렵더라고요. 너무 큰일이거든요.”
이옥선 할머니는 당시 그 일이 “너무 부끄러운 일이었어요.”라고 말한다. 그녀는 자살하지 않았고 전쟁 끝까지 살아남았다. 1945년 늦여름 일본이 항복하면서 어느 날 밤 위안소 관리자들이 모두 사라져버렸다. 느닷없이 자유의 몸이 된 것이다. 그러나 그녀들은 어디로 가야할지 갈피를 잡지 못했다. “도대체 어디로 가야할지 종잡을 수 없었어요. 돈도 없고 집도 없어 길거리에서 자야 했어요.” 고국으로 돌아가려면 어디로 가야하는지도 몰랐지만 절대 돌아가고 싶지 않았다. 너무 부끄러웠기 때문이다. “그냥 중국에서 살다가 죽고 싶었어요. 이런 상태로 어떻게 고향에 갈 수 있겠어요? 얼굴에 ”위안부“라고 써져 있는 것 같은데. 엄마 얼굴을 제대로 볼 수 없을 것 같았어요.”
중국에서의 삶
이옥선 할머니는 아이들이 딸린 한국계 남자를 만나 결혼했다. “엄마 없는 그 아이들을 기르는 것이 나의 의무다고 생각했어요.” “저는 애를 낳을 수 없었거든요.” 이옥선 할머니는 자궁이 없다. 위안소에서 자주 걸렸던 성병들 때문에 위안소를 떠난 후에 죽음의 문턱을 거의 넘길 정도로 아팠다. 목숨을 구하기 위해 자궁을 적출했다.
중국의 연길에서 그녀는 쥐죽은 듯 움츠린 삶을 살며 - 그녀의 표현 그대로 - 다시 두 발로 설 힘을 찾으려 안간힘을 썼다. 그렇게 수십 년이 또 흘렀다. 그녀의 남편은 그녀에게 잘해줬다. 이 말을 하며 이옥선 할머니가 처음으로 웃었다. “안 그랬으면 그 양반이랑 그렇게 오래 못살았지.”
“위안소”에서 그 지옥을 견뎌낸 다른 여성들도 모두 이옥선 할머니와 같은 삶을 살아야 했다. 그들은 스스로의 힘으로 살기 위해 안간힘을 썼다. 하지만 그 때 무슨 일이 있었는지 스스로 말하게 될 거라곤 생각하지 않았다. 가족들에게 수치를 주게 될까봐 두려웠기 때문이다. 베른트 슈퉤버 씨의 말에 따르면 위안부 문제에 대해 이야기하는 것은 완전한 타부였다. “사회적 배려는 전혀 없었다. 이 문제를 공론화하는 것은 그 사회 밖으로 떠밀리는 것을 각오해야 하는 일이었다.” 한국뿐만 아니라 일본에서도 전쟁이 끝난 이후 이 문제에 대한 이야기는 전혀 이루어지지 않았다. 지금처럼 말할 수 있게 되기까지 수십 년이 흘러야 했다.
청산되지 않은 과거 그리고 민족주의
“위안부” 문제가 처음 공론화된 것은 1991년이었다. 250명의 여성들이 용기를 내어 이 과거에 대해 이야기하고 일본 정부의 사과와 배상을 요구하기 시작했다. 그 때부터 매주 수요일 이 여인들과 뜻을 같이 하는 시민들이 함께 모여 서울의 일본대사관 앞에서 피켓을 들고 구호를 외치고 있다. 그러나 일본정부는 아직까지 그녀들의 요구사항 중 단 한 가지도 들어주지 않았다.
베른트 슈퉤버 씨에 따르면 일본은 청산되지 않은 과거사 문제에 대해 거의 아무런 대응도 하지 않고 있다. 1993년 일본정부의 의뢰로 이루어진 한 연구결과 “위안부”가 존재했다는 사실, 그리고 거기에 일본군이 관여했음이 확인되었는데도 불구하고 말이다. “일본정부가 그 뒤 몇 번 사과하기는 했지만 실질적인 결과물을 만들어내지는 않았다.” 라고 슈퉤버 씨는 말한다.
개별사항에 대한 각각의 사과는 있었지만 포괄적인 잘못인정은 한 번도 하지 않았다. 보상도 마찬가지다. 일본정부에 의해 만들어진 민간 보상기금은 이들 여인들에게 한 푼도 보상한 적이 없다. 앞으로도 그럴 것으로 보인다. “2007년에 일본 대법원은 이 여인들이 보상청구권이 없다고 판결했다.”
희생자들의 가슴에 못을 박는 또 다른 일들도 벌어지고 있다. 일본의 민족주의적 정치가들이 “위안소”의 존재사실 자체를 부인하거나 거기서 별다른 일이 벌어지지 않았다고 주장하고 있다. 예를 들어 일본의 아베 총리는 2007년 첫 번째 재임 중 “여성들이 강요당했다는 증거가 없다.”고 주장했다. 물론 엄청난 비난에 몰리자 사과하기는 했다.
올해 초 또 다른 유명 정치인이 헤드라인을 장식했다. 토루 하시모토 오사카 시장은 기자들 앞에서 전쟁기간에 군인들의 군기를 잡기 위해 성적 노예는 “필요한 것”이라고 말한 것이다. 이 끔찍한 발언에 대해 이옥선 할머니는 말한다. “사람이라면 어떻게 그렇게 말할 수 있는지 이해할 수 없다. 일본이 그 때 무슨 짓을 저질렀는지, 도대체 무슨 일이 있었는지 알고 싶어 하지 않는 사람은 내 눈에는 더 이상 사람이 아니다.”
더 이상 한국에 가족은 없다.
이옥선 할머니는 지금 한국에서 살고 있다. 지난 2000년 남편이 죽은 후 고국으로 돌아가 그녀가 겪은 역사에 대해 말해야 한다고 느끼게 되었기 때문이다. 그 때부터 그녀는 서울 근교에 소재한 위안부 피해여성들을 위한 “나눔의 집”에서 살고 있다. 그 곳에서 그녀는 처음으로 심리 상담을 받았고 매일 치료를 받고 있다. 그리고 한국 국적도 얻었다.
한국에서 그녀는 부모님 모두 사망했으며 남동생이 생존해 있다는 사실을 알게 되었다. 그 남동생은 그녀의 주민등록정보를 새로 만드는데 도움을 주었다. 그런데 이후 연락이 끊겨 버렸다. 이옥선 할머니가 걱정하던 일이 벌어진 것이다. 남동생은 그녀와 더 이상 연결되기를 꺼린 것이다. 자신의 누나가 “위안부”였다는 사실이 부끄럽기 때문에.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Glendale approves controversial 'comfort women' memorial By Christina Villacorte
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20130709/glendale-approves-controversial-comfort-women-memorial
Glendale approves controversial 'comfort women' memorial
By Christina Villacorte, Staff Writer
POSTED: 07/08/13, 9:00 PM PDT |
Over the objections of dozens of Japanese-Americans who crowded City Hall chambers, the Glendale City Council voted Tuesday to install a controversial memorial at Glendale Central Park honoring "comfort women" -- a euphemism for the mostly Korean women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
"I think we're doing the right thing," Councilman Frank Quintero said. "I'm very proud of the city of Glendale."
Aside from Quintero, council members Zareh Sinanyan, Ara Najarian and Laura Friedman voted to let the Korean American Forum of California, a nonprofit human rights organization, fund and build a memorial on a plot of land adjacent to the park's Adult Recreation Center.
"We're taking a meaningful step to show our moral support, sense of camaraderie, and our sharing of the pain that our Korean-American brothers and sisters feel about this issue," Sinanyan said.
"I don't see this as designed to be a monument to shame Japan," Friedman added. "What happened to those girls was a tragedy, and that's what this monument is about."
Mayor Dave Weaver cast the lone dissenting vote -- not because he opposed the memorial, but because he refuses to approve any construction at the park until a master plan is developed.
Dozens of Japanese-Americans addressed the council, many of them denying that comfort women existed, even though historians believe about 200,000 women and girls -- mostly Koreans, but also Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipina and Dutch (from the then-Dutch colony of Indonesia) -- were rounded up and forced into brothels where they were raped and tortured by Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese government issued a formal apology in 1993.
Yoshi Miyake, 60, a massage therapist from Los Angeles, warned the memorial would "bring out hate crimes and conflict."
"Comfort ladies were nothing more than prostitutes," he added, drawing applause from some members of the crowd.
Andy Naoki, 63, a tour guide from East L.A. warned Glendale that it would appear to the world as a "city praising prostitution."
Few Korean-Americans spoke during the council meeting, but dozens of them posed for pictures on the steps of Glendale City Hall after the vote.
They held up signs saying "End Sexual Slavery" and "Government of Japan Must Apologize!"
The memorial will be unveiled July 30, and a surviving comfort woman will attend the ceremony. It will be a replica of the famous "peace monument" that Korean civic leaders erected across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in 2001, near where surviving comfort women have held a protest every Wednesday for more than 20 years.
The peace monument is a bronze statue of a teenage girl wearing traditional Korean attire, hands in her lap, feet bare and sitting on a chair.
Andrew Kim, a member of the KAF, stressed the organization does not want to strain relations between Koreans and Japanese.
"We are a human rights organization and our mission is to promote public awareness of this issue," he said.
KAF President Joachim Youn said he was proud that the council heard both sides of the issue, and voted in the end to approve the memorial.
"That's why I'm so proud of being a citizen," he said. "A 4-1 vote, God help us -- we really, really appreciate that."
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/15/local/la-me-ln-attempt-to-oust-councilman-tied-to-gun-show-vote-lawyers-say-20130615
Attempt to oust councilman tied to gun-show vote, lawyers say
June 15, 2013|By Brittany Levine
Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero.
Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero. (Tammy Abbott / News-Press )
An attempt to remove Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero from office has more to do with his support of a recent ban on gun shows on city-owned property than allegations he violated an employment policy, attorneys for the city contend in court documents.
Quintero retired when his term ended in April but he was appointed a short time later to fill the seat left by colleague Rafi Manoukian, who was elected city treasurer.
In May, two Glendale residents, John Rando and Mariano Rodas, filed a request with the state's attorney general for permission to file a lawsuit that would seek to remove Quintero from his appointed seat. They contend the city is violating a 1982 provision that prevents council members from being employed by the city until two years after they leave the dais.
In the city's response filed last week with the state attorney general, an attorney for Glendale contends that Rando and Rodas are misconstruing the provision and calls their complaint "misguided, unconstitutional and contrary to both the voters' intent and the city's longstanding, well-established interpretation."
Andrew Rawcliffe, an attorney hired by the city, contends in the filing that Rando and Rodas are targeting Quintero because he voted to ban gun shows from city property earlier this year, a prohibition they fought against.
Their attorney, Sean Brady, also represented the Glendale Gun Show's operator during the proceedings. But Brady has said the filing is not connected to the gun show ban but rather is intended to make sure the city follows its own rules.
He said he plans to respond to the city's filing Monday.
"That is what this action is about — keeping the government honest, not the gun show," Brady said. "Their response shows the city thinks some people's voices that don't agree with the city should be disregarded or discounted."
Rando and Rodas must get the attorney general's permission before filing a lawsuit against Quintero — a protection against frivolous lawsuits filed against elected officials.
According to court documents, Rawcliffe argued that when voters approved the revolving-door policy, it was never meant to prevent people from holding elected office. Rather, it was meant to clarify a former policy that seemingly prevented council members from holding outside employment, he said.
In his filing, he points to the 1982 ballot pamphlet in which elected offices are not mentioned in a description of the provision. Council members work part-time and many have other jobs outside of City Hall.
Quintero announced he was retiring after 12 years in office before the April municipal election. When Manoukian won the city treasurer's seat, his two-year term was left open.
The City Council chose to appoint Quintero to a 14-month term rather than hold a special election.
At the time, City Atty. Mike Garcia said the revolving-door policy exempted elected positions. Although the Charter language doesn't specifically do that, Garcia said the voters intended to prevent council members from taking cushy positions with the city after their terms, not to create a term limit.
"It is clear that this … action would discourage citizens from holding elected office and/or at the very least, discourage elected officials from taking positions unpopular with the National Rifle Assn.," Rawcliffe wrote in the filing.
It could be months before the attorney general's office makes a decision.
ALSO:
Plane smashes into hangar at Chino Airport during engine test
Glendora residents save man from house fire; man's wife perishes
Santa Monica gunman wrote an apology, was denied weapon by state
brittany.levine@latimes.com
To City Councilman Frank Quintero, and the members of the City Council of Glendale.
Glendale approves controversial 'comfort women' memorial
By Christina Villacorte, Staff Writer
POSTED: 07/08/13, 9:00 PM PDT |
Over the objections of dozens of Japanese-Americans who crowded City Hall chambers, the Glendale City Council voted Tuesday to install a controversial memorial at Glendale Central Park honoring "comfort women" -- a euphemism for the mostly Korean women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
"I think we're doing the right thing," Councilman Frank Quintero said. "I'm very proud of the city of Glendale."
Aside from Quintero, council members Zareh Sinanyan, Ara Najarian and Laura Friedman voted to let the Korean American Forum of California, a nonprofit human rights organization, fund and build a memorial on a plot of land adjacent to the park's Adult Recreation Center.
"We're taking a meaningful step to show our moral support, sense of camaraderie, and our sharing of the pain that our Korean-American brothers and sisters feel about this issue," Sinanyan said.
"I don't see this as designed to be a monument to shame Japan," Friedman added. "What happened to those girls was a tragedy, and that's what this monument is about."
Mayor Dave Weaver cast the lone dissenting vote -- not because he opposed the memorial, but because he refuses to approve any construction at the park until a master plan is developed.
Dozens of Japanese-Americans addressed the council, many of them denying that comfort women existed, even though historians believe about 200,000 women and girls -- mostly Koreans, but also Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipina and Dutch (from the then-Dutch colony of Indonesia) -- were rounded up and forced into brothels where they were raped and tortured by Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese government issued a formal apology in 1993.
Yoshi Miyake, 60, a massage therapist from Los Angeles, warned the memorial would "bring out hate crimes and conflict."
"Comfort ladies were nothing more than prostitutes," he added, drawing applause from some members of the crowd.
Andy Naoki, 63, a tour guide from East L.A. warned Glendale that it would appear to the world as a "city praising prostitution."
Few Korean-Americans spoke during the council meeting, but dozens of them posed for pictures on the steps of Glendale City Hall after the vote.
They held up signs saying "End Sexual Slavery" and "Government of Japan Must Apologize!"
The memorial will be unveiled July 30, and a surviving comfort woman will attend the ceremony. It will be a replica of the famous "peace monument" that Korean civic leaders erected across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in 2001, near where surviving comfort women have held a protest every Wednesday for more than 20 years.
The peace monument is a bronze statue of a teenage girl wearing traditional Korean attire, hands in her lap, feet bare and sitting on a chair.
Andrew Kim, a member of the KAF, stressed the organization does not want to strain relations between Koreans and Japanese.
"We are a human rights organization and our mission is to promote public awareness of this issue," he said.
KAF President Joachim Youn said he was proud that the council heard both sides of the issue, and voted in the end to approve the memorial.
"That's why I'm so proud of being a citizen," he said. "A 4-1 vote, God help us -- we really, really appreciate that."
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/15/local/la-me-ln-attempt-to-oust-councilman-tied-to-gun-show-vote-lawyers-say-20130615
Attempt to oust councilman tied to gun-show vote, lawyers say
June 15, 2013|By Brittany Levine
Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero.
Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero. (Tammy Abbott / News-Press )
An attempt to remove Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero from office has more to do with his support of a recent ban on gun shows on city-owned property than allegations he violated an employment policy, attorneys for the city contend in court documents.
Quintero retired when his term ended in April but he was appointed a short time later to fill the seat left by colleague Rafi Manoukian, who was elected city treasurer.
In May, two Glendale residents, John Rando and Mariano Rodas, filed a request with the state's attorney general for permission to file a lawsuit that would seek to remove Quintero from his appointed seat. They contend the city is violating a 1982 provision that prevents council members from being employed by the city until two years after they leave the dais.
In the city's response filed last week with the state attorney general, an attorney for Glendale contends that Rando and Rodas are misconstruing the provision and calls their complaint "misguided, unconstitutional and contrary to both the voters' intent and the city's longstanding, well-established interpretation."
Andrew Rawcliffe, an attorney hired by the city, contends in the filing that Rando and Rodas are targeting Quintero because he voted to ban gun shows from city property earlier this year, a prohibition they fought against.
Their attorney, Sean Brady, also represented the Glendale Gun Show's operator during the proceedings. But Brady has said the filing is not connected to the gun show ban but rather is intended to make sure the city follows its own rules.
He said he plans to respond to the city's filing Monday.
"That is what this action is about — keeping the government honest, not the gun show," Brady said. "Their response shows the city thinks some people's voices that don't agree with the city should be disregarded or discounted."
Rando and Rodas must get the attorney general's permission before filing a lawsuit against Quintero — a protection against frivolous lawsuits filed against elected officials.
According to court documents, Rawcliffe argued that when voters approved the revolving-door policy, it was never meant to prevent people from holding elected office. Rather, it was meant to clarify a former policy that seemingly prevented council members from holding outside employment, he said.
In his filing, he points to the 1982 ballot pamphlet in which elected offices are not mentioned in a description of the provision. Council members work part-time and many have other jobs outside of City Hall.
Quintero announced he was retiring after 12 years in office before the April municipal election. When Manoukian won the city treasurer's seat, his two-year term was left open.
The City Council chose to appoint Quintero to a 14-month term rather than hold a special election.
At the time, City Atty. Mike Garcia said the revolving-door policy exempted elected positions. Although the Charter language doesn't specifically do that, Garcia said the voters intended to prevent council members from taking cushy positions with the city after their terms, not to create a term limit.
"It is clear that this … action would discourage citizens from holding elected office and/or at the very least, discourage elected officials from taking positions unpopular with the National Rifle Assn.," Rawcliffe wrote in the filing.
It could be months before the attorney general's office makes a decision.
ALSO:
Plane smashes into hangar at Chino Airport during engine test
Glendora residents save man from house fire; man's wife perishes
Santa Monica gunman wrote an apology, was denied weapon by state
brittany.levine@latimes.com
To City Councilman Frank Quintero, and the members of the City Council of Glendale.
Friday, September 13, 2013
The Women Outside by J.T.Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park
http://www.pbs.org/pov/thewomenoutside/
The Women Outside
by J.T.Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park
Premiere Date: July 16, 1996
They're called bar women, hostesses, or sex workers and "western princesses." They come from poor families, struggling to earn a decent wage, only to be forced into the world's oldest profession. They're the women who work in the camptowns that surround U.S. military bases in South Korea. In 40 years, over a million women have worked in Korea's military sex industry, but their existence has never been officially acknowledged by either government. In The Women Outside, a film by J.T. Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park, some of these women bravely speak out about their lives for the first time. The film raises provocative questions about military policy, economic survival, and the role of women in global geopolitics. Part of POV, broadcast television's only continuing forum for independent non-fiction film, The Women Outside, a co-presentation of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), will air nationally Tuesday, July 16 at 10 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings).
The Korean War ended in 1953, but 37,000 American troops remain in South Korea to defend against possible invasion from the North in this, the most militarized region in the world. Around each of the 99 bases and installations are camptowns filled with bars, clubs, brothels -- and over 27,000 women. Like migrant laborers, they work long hours for a meager base pay of only 200,000 won ($250 US) a month. The income barely covers food and rent; many become trapped in the camptowns as they struggle to pay off their ever-spiralling debts. Some dream of marrying U.S. military men and getting a fresh start in America. But even for those who find American G. I. husbands, resettling in the United States usually means confronting racism, anti-immigrant sentiments, a new way of life — and even ostracism from the Korean American community. The divorce rate for these Korean-American marriages is a staggering 80%.
It took Takagi and Park months to persuade current and former sex workers to speak out. "It was difficult getting them to talk, and extraordinary that we were allowed to film their faces," says Park. The Women Outside focuses on several women, all of whom share a fierce determination to survive despite the discouraging odds. One of the film's central characters is Yang Hyang Kim, who applied for a job in what she thought was a coffee house, only to be sold to a brothel outside Camp Stanley. She tells her wrenching story on camera with remarkable candor. After her first sexual experience in the brothel, "I felt like dirty woman," she recalls, wincing at the memory. She tried to commit suicide, but another woman stopped her. "Physically I'm not a virgin," she says softly. "But mentally I try to keep my pure heart." When she finally escaped from the brothel, her family rejected her — shamed by her experience. Yang Hyang ended up returning to the camptowns.
The Women Outside also features interviews with representatives of South Korea's women's movement, Korean scholars, and U.S. Army personnel. The film charges that, working together, the Korean and American governments have allowed the camptown entertainment industry to flourish at the expense of countless Korean women. According to the film, priorities are heartbreakingly clear: all prostitutes are forcibly checked every two weeks for venereal disease, and regularly for H.I.V.; the soldiers are not. "If prostitutes and prostitution were really so natural, why does it require so many decisions by military commanders, why does it require so many negotiations?" asks Cynthia Enloe, professor of government at Clark University. Military prostitution, she maintains, "is not natural. It's negotiated -- it's got as long a memo trail behind it as the fanciest weaponry."
For some, the consequences are deadly. Yoon Kum-Yi, a sex worker, was brutally murdered in October, 1992 by Kenneth Markle, a U.S. serviceman stationed at Camp Casey. When Korean women's groups organized massive protests, Markle became the first American soldier ever tried in Korean criminal courts. He was given a life sentence -- though it was later reduced to 15 years.
Yang Hyang Kim is one of the lucky ones. The Women Outside follows her deepening relationship with Todd, a G.I., as they work to accomodate their cultural differences. Eventually, they marry, and Todd is transferred to Hawaii, where Kim, now pregnant, begins the difficult process of adapting to life in America. "My hope is to see my baby," she says. "I want to take him to Burger King or McDonald's and put a crown on his head.... I want to educate myself more. So I can become independent. So I can get a better job so I can afford my boy, my son. And raise him proudly."
The Women Outside is a co-presentation of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), the leading provider and promoter of Asian American film and video for public television. Founded in 1980, NAATA funds, distributes and promotes works on the Asian American experience for public television.
The Women Outside is funded in part by the POV Minority Funding Partnership.
COMFORT WOMEN ISSUE 慰安婦問題（07年 米TV番組から）
The Women Outside
by J.T.Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park
Premiere Date: July 16, 1996
They're called bar women, hostesses, or sex workers and "western princesses." They come from poor families, struggling to earn a decent wage, only to be forced into the world's oldest profession. They're the women who work in the camptowns that surround U.S. military bases in South Korea. In 40 years, over a million women have worked in Korea's military sex industry, but their existence has never been officially acknowledged by either government. In The Women Outside, a film by J.T. Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park, some of these women bravely speak out about their lives for the first time. The film raises provocative questions about military policy, economic survival, and the role of women in global geopolitics. Part of POV, broadcast television's only continuing forum for independent non-fiction film, The Women Outside, a co-presentation of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), will air nationally Tuesday, July 16 at 10 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings).
The Korean War ended in 1953, but 37,000 American troops remain in South Korea to defend against possible invasion from the North in this, the most militarized region in the world. Around each of the 99 bases and installations are camptowns filled with bars, clubs, brothels -- and over 27,000 women. Like migrant laborers, they work long hours for a meager base pay of only 200,000 won ($250 US) a month. The income barely covers food and rent; many become trapped in the camptowns as they struggle to pay off their ever-spiralling debts. Some dream of marrying U.S. military men and getting a fresh start in America. But even for those who find American G. I. husbands, resettling in the United States usually means confronting racism, anti-immigrant sentiments, a new way of life — and even ostracism from the Korean American community. The divorce rate for these Korean-American marriages is a staggering 80%.
It took Takagi and Park months to persuade current and former sex workers to speak out. "It was difficult getting them to talk, and extraordinary that we were allowed to film their faces," says Park. The Women Outside focuses on several women, all of whom share a fierce determination to survive despite the discouraging odds. One of the film's central characters is Yang Hyang Kim, who applied for a job in what she thought was a coffee house, only to be sold to a brothel outside Camp Stanley. She tells her wrenching story on camera with remarkable candor. After her first sexual experience in the brothel, "I felt like dirty woman," she recalls, wincing at the memory. She tried to commit suicide, but another woman stopped her. "Physically I'm not a virgin," she says softly. "But mentally I try to keep my pure heart." When she finally escaped from the brothel, her family rejected her — shamed by her experience. Yang Hyang ended up returning to the camptowns.
The Women Outside also features interviews with representatives of South Korea's women's movement, Korean scholars, and U.S. Army personnel. The film charges that, working together, the Korean and American governments have allowed the camptown entertainment industry to flourish at the expense of countless Korean women. According to the film, priorities are heartbreakingly clear: all prostitutes are forcibly checked every two weeks for venereal disease, and regularly for H.I.V.; the soldiers are not. "If prostitutes and prostitution were really so natural, why does it require so many decisions by military commanders, why does it require so many negotiations?" asks Cynthia Enloe, professor of government at Clark University. Military prostitution, she maintains, "is not natural. It's negotiated -- it's got as long a memo trail behind it as the fanciest weaponry."
For some, the consequences are deadly. Yoon Kum-Yi, a sex worker, was brutally murdered in October, 1992 by Kenneth Markle, a U.S. serviceman stationed at Camp Casey. When Korean women's groups organized massive protests, Markle became the first American soldier ever tried in Korean criminal courts. He was given a life sentence -- though it was later reduced to 15 years.
Yang Hyang Kim is one of the lucky ones. The Women Outside follows her deepening relationship with Todd, a G.I., as they work to accomodate their cultural differences. Eventually, they marry, and Todd is transferred to Hawaii, where Kim, now pregnant, begins the difficult process of adapting to life in America. "My hope is to see my baby," she says. "I want to take him to Burger King or McDonald's and put a crown on his head.... I want to educate myself more. So I can become independent. So I can get a better job so I can afford my boy, my son. And raise him proudly."
The Women Outside is a co-presentation of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), the leading provider and promoter of Asian American film and video for public television. Founded in 1980, NAATA funds, distributes and promotes works on the Asian American experience for public television.
The Women Outside is funded in part by the POV Minority Funding Partnership.
COMFORT WOMEN ISSUE 慰安婦問題（07年 米TV番組から）
Monday, September 9, 2013
Bergen County to install Korean 'comfort women' memorial
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/10/bergen_county_to_install_korean_comfort_women_memorial.html
Bergen County to install Korean 'comfort women' memorial
Print S.P. Sullivan/NJ.com By S.P. Sullivan/NJ.com
on October 15, 2012 at 8:55 AM, updated October 15, 2012 at 9:24 AM
pal-park-comfort-women.jpg
File photo
A comfort women memorial in Palisades Park caught national attention earlier this year when Japanese officials asked that it be removed.
HACKENSACK — Officials announced over the weekend that a memorial to Korean "comfort women" — who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during WWII — will be placed outside the Bergen County courthouse.
The monument, paying tribute to the estimated 200,000 victims of the practice, will be placed inside the county's "Ring of Honor," which includes memorials for the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide and the Irish "Great Hunger."
A similar monument in Palisades Park, dedicated in 2010, drew international attention when Japanese officials visiting the borough asked that it be removed.
Local officials denied that request.
While the memorial will join a collection of tributes to international tragedies, it is also significant because of the growing social and political presence of Koreans and Korean Americans in the county.
Bergen County has the largest Korean population in the state, with more than 6 percent of residents identifying as Korean on the 2010 census. November will mark the first federal election where ballots will be printed in Korean, meeting requirements set by the Voting Rights Acts.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, meanwhile, recently returned from an "economic and cultural mission," visiting major businesses as well as Sharing House, a safe house and memorial for former comfort women, her staff said.
Bergen County to install Korean 'comfort women' memorial
Print S.P. Sullivan/NJ.com By S.P. Sullivan/NJ.com
on October 15, 2012 at 8:55 AM, updated October 15, 2012 at 9:24 AM
pal-park-comfort-women.jpg
File photo
A comfort women memorial in Palisades Park caught national attention earlier this year when Japanese officials asked that it be removed.
HACKENSACK — Officials announced over the weekend that a memorial to Korean "comfort women" — who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during WWII — will be placed outside the Bergen County courthouse.
The monument, paying tribute to the estimated 200,000 victims of the practice, will be placed inside the county's "Ring of Honor," which includes memorials for the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide and the Irish "Great Hunger."
A similar monument in Palisades Park, dedicated in 2010, drew international attention when Japanese officials visiting the borough asked that it be removed.
Local officials denied that request.
While the memorial will join a collection of tributes to international tragedies, it is also significant because of the growing social and political presence of Koreans and Korean Americans in the county.
Bergen County has the largest Korean population in the state, with more than 6 percent of residents identifying as Korean on the 2010 census. November will mark the first federal election where ballots will be printed in Korean, meeting requirements set by the Voting Rights Acts.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, meanwhile, recently returned from an "economic and cultural mission," visiting major businesses as well as Sharing House, a safe house and memorial for former comfort women, her staff said.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Japan and Turkey: On ‘Comfort Women’ and Genocide BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
http://asbarez.com/113481/japan-and-turkey-on-comfort-women-and-genocide/
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Harut Sassounian
Japan and Turkey: On ‘Comfort Women’ and Genocide
Harut Sassounian
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
The sleepy town of Glendale became the center of a major international controversy on July 9, when the City Council approved a memorial to ‘comfort women’ — a euphemism to describe up to 200,000 young females who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during its occupation of Korea and neighboring countries before and during World War II.
The City Council, after hearing conflicting testimonies from members of the local Japanese and Korean communities, approved with a 4 to 1 vote the installation of a monument in Glendale in honor of ‘comfort women.’ At the unveiling ceremony of the monument, council members Ara Najarian and Zareh Sinanyan expressed sympathy for the plight of “comfort women,’ as their own Armenian ancestors had suffered from mass atrocities in Turkey.
Concerned by the parallels drawn between the genocide of Armenians by Turkey during World War I and the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of ‘comfort women’ during World War II, the Consulate of Japan in Los Angeles sought a meeting with the Armenian National Committee of America to present its government’s position on this issue.
During Deputy Consul General Masahiro Suga’s meeting with ANCA, it became evident that the Japanese government had been far more forthcoming regarding the crimes committed by the imperial Japanese army than the Turkish government was on the Armenian Genocide. Mr. Suga explained that Japan had recognized its responsibility for violating the rights of ‘comfort women’ by issuing an apology, and offering compensation to the victims.
Nevertheless, the ‘comfort women’ remain dissatisfied with Japan’s acts of “atonement,” accusing Japanese officials of making conflicting announcements on this issue. Most ‘comfort women’ have also rejected the offered financial compensation, claiming that it was partially provided by private sources and not the government of Japan. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution in support of ‘comfort women,’ urging the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery.”
To find out how Japan’s reaction to the issue of ‘comfort women’ differed from the Turkish government’s denialist stand on the Armenian Genocide, I interviewed Jun Niimi, the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles. He fondly spoke about his “affinity” toward Armenians developed during his 1995-98 service at the Japanese Embassy in Tehran, and his subsequent visits to Armenia, while stationed at the Embassy of Japan in Moscow.
Regarding the Japanese government’s position on ‘comfort women,’ Mr. Niimi explained that Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a statement in 1995, expressing “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology.” Japan also “provided atonement through the Asian Women’s Fund.”
Turning to the differences in the reaction of Turkey to the Armenian Genocide and Japan’s to the abuse of ‘comfort women,’ Consul General Niimi made three points:
“The government of Japan is well aware of the tragedy of the Armenian people at the beginning of last century. We would like to express our deepest condolences and sympathy to the victims. It is our strong belief that this kind of tragedy should never be repeated. The second point is regarding the position of the Turkish government. This is about another country’s position. Even though we are aware of that atrocity, yet, we are not in a position to grasp the details of precisely what happened a century ago in that area. So we cannot make a comment on the Turkish government’s position. But, I would like to repeat that we are aware of the tragedy and would like to express our sympathy and condolences. And the third point is that, regardless of the position of the Turkish government, the Japanese government’s position on the issue of ‘comfort women’ is that it expressed apology and remorse and made efforts to extend support to former ‘comfort women.’”
I informed the Consul General that Japan’s position on the Armenian Genocide is not much different from that of Turkey. I asked Mr. Niimi to relay to his country’s Foreign Ministry that Japan’s lack of acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide reinforces the skepticism of those who question the Japanese government’s sincerity in dealing fairly with the issue of ‘comfort women.’
In response, the Consul General of Japan expressed his understanding that “the word tragedy doesn’t sound good to you, because it’s genocide.” He promised to convey to his government “the sentiments of the Armenian community” on this issue.
Discussion Policy
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. Though you are fully responsible for the content you post, comments that include profanity, personal attacks or other inappropriate material will not be permitted. Asbarez.com reserves the right to block users who violate any of our posting standards and policies.
6 Responses
for “Japan and Turkey: On ‘Comfort Women’ and Genocide”
Satenik says:
September 3, 2013 at 11:23 am
Japan must recognise the Armenian Genocide. Words alone carry little weight!
Reply
Ararat says:
September 3, 2013 at 2:01 pm
The reason why Japan, and other countries for that matter, take responsibility for their past misdeeds and come clean with their criminal past and financially compensate for their transgressions is because that is where everything ends. In a manner of speaking, they are buying their way out of their shameful acts and the sufferings they caused on their victims.
In the Armenian case, on the other hand, the admission and the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government does not end there and instead it is where everything begins. The admission of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government will be like opening a Pandora’s Box which will uncover a whole series of “unexpected” problems for Turkey. But unlike a series of unexpected problems, Turkey is well aware and has already calculated and foresees all the “expected” problems that will follow. That is why it is much more economical and sound for Turkey to lie, to issue empty threats and blackmail any nation that speaks about the Armenian Genocide.
Unlike the Japanese issue and apologies and compensations to the victims, tied to the Armenian Genocide by the Turks are the occupied Armenian provinces in which their victims lived and called home for thousands of years, in which they were murdered and from which they were expelled and deported. The criminal Turkish government is fully aware of this and that is why they have to lie and make up different stories year after year to deny their criminal past. If this was not the case, the Armenian Genocide resolution would have already been a thing of the past.
One of the primary enablers of Turkey to continue on this path of misinformation and denial is its NATO membership. Turkey’s insincere and opportunist criminal leaders know they can always play the “loyal” NATO member country role and make empty threats against their European and US NATO masters by reminding them of Turkey’s significance in the region and the many corrupt and spineless NATO member countries will fold like lawn chairs because at the end of the day most of them, while fully aware and with first-hand knowledge in this matter, are after their own self-interests.
The way you make Turkey face its genocidal past and the way you bring Turkey to its knees is by working toward isolating Turkey. By reducing and eventually eliminating its significance in the region to the adventures, or misadventures depending on your point of view, of the westerners you create the ground work for the expulsion of Turkey from the NATO alliance. The day Turkey ceases to be a NATO ally is the day the Armenians will get their long-awaited justice fully and unequivocally.
Reply
Eiji Nakano says:
September 3, 2013 at 6:12 pm
Stop to mix up Comfort women issue and genocide.
And Japan will fight to Korean for “Comfort women” issue becuase it becomes pure duplomatic and political issue.
Reply
LL says:
September 3, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Ask them: What did they gain and loose by accepting responsibility of the “Comfort Women”?
I feel that the Women have the right to feel the way they do, no reason can be given to cover their emotions.
Reply
Andrew Lee says:
September 4, 2013 at 8:26 am
Point out that Japan has been more forthcoming about its own atrocities than Turkey regarding the Amenian Genocide is a bit like pointing out that a pot is blacker than a kettle. You’ve listed Japan’s “acts of atonement” without presenting why they are rejected by the surviving former sex slaves and their advocates.
Abe is the last in a long line of Japanese politicians who have openly claimed that the sex slaves were common prostitutes. Part of his campaign promises while running for the PM office was a promise to retract the Murayama’s 1995 expression of “deep remorse” and hearfelt apology.” How Jun Niimi can claim Japan has been apologized and offered compensation about something that his current PM and other Japanese politicians, academics popularly deny seems to be some sort of special Zen (il)logic trick.
The compensation offered was also a joke. These women are not looking for handouts. It was for the express purpose of denying responsibility that his fund was accrued from private donations by the public. The solution to atrocities committed is not to pass the hat around as if these women are some charity case looking for handouts. What is needed in response to these atrocities is TRUTH with hopes of RECONCILIATION.
Armenians and Armenian-Americans deserve better than a regurgitation of one-sided Japanese arguments to support their cause regarding the Armenian Genocide.
Reply
Alex Postallian says:
September 4, 2013 at 7:52 pm
I remember in 1941,the Japanese Emissaries,in Washington,bowing and scraping,saying,we friends,no war no war.soon after,they in a sneaky way bombed Pearl Harbor…I have never believed them since.
Reply
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Harut Sassounian
Japan and Turkey: On ‘Comfort Women’ and Genocide
Harut Sassounian
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
The sleepy town of Glendale became the center of a major international controversy on July 9, when the City Council approved a memorial to ‘comfort women’ — a euphemism to describe up to 200,000 young females who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during its occupation of Korea and neighboring countries before and during World War II.
The City Council, after hearing conflicting testimonies from members of the local Japanese and Korean communities, approved with a 4 to 1 vote the installation of a monument in Glendale in honor of ‘comfort women.’ At the unveiling ceremony of the monument, council members Ara Najarian and Zareh Sinanyan expressed sympathy for the plight of “comfort women,’ as their own Armenian ancestors had suffered from mass atrocities in Turkey.
Concerned by the parallels drawn between the genocide of Armenians by Turkey during World War I and the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of ‘comfort women’ during World War II, the Consulate of Japan in Los Angeles sought a meeting with the Armenian National Committee of America to present its government’s position on this issue.
During Deputy Consul General Masahiro Suga’s meeting with ANCA, it became evident that the Japanese government had been far more forthcoming regarding the crimes committed by the imperial Japanese army than the Turkish government was on the Armenian Genocide. Mr. Suga explained that Japan had recognized its responsibility for violating the rights of ‘comfort women’ by issuing an apology, and offering compensation to the victims.
Nevertheless, the ‘comfort women’ remain dissatisfied with Japan’s acts of “atonement,” accusing Japanese officials of making conflicting announcements on this issue. Most ‘comfort women’ have also rejected the offered financial compensation, claiming that it was partially provided by private sources and not the government of Japan. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution in support of ‘comfort women,’ urging the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery.”
To find out how Japan’s reaction to the issue of ‘comfort women’ differed from the Turkish government’s denialist stand on the Armenian Genocide, I interviewed Jun Niimi, the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles. He fondly spoke about his “affinity” toward Armenians developed during his 1995-98 service at the Japanese Embassy in Tehran, and his subsequent visits to Armenia, while stationed at the Embassy of Japan in Moscow.
Regarding the Japanese government’s position on ‘comfort women,’ Mr. Niimi explained that Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a statement in 1995, expressing “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology.” Japan also “provided atonement through the Asian Women’s Fund.”
Turning to the differences in the reaction of Turkey to the Armenian Genocide and Japan’s to the abuse of ‘comfort women,’ Consul General Niimi made three points:
“The government of Japan is well aware of the tragedy of the Armenian people at the beginning of last century. We would like to express our deepest condolences and sympathy to the victims. It is our strong belief that this kind of tragedy should never be repeated. The second point is regarding the position of the Turkish government. This is about another country’s position. Even though we are aware of that atrocity, yet, we are not in a position to grasp the details of precisely what happened a century ago in that area. So we cannot make a comment on the Turkish government’s position. But, I would like to repeat that we are aware of the tragedy and would like to express our sympathy and condolences. And the third point is that, regardless of the position of the Turkish government, the Japanese government’s position on the issue of ‘comfort women’ is that it expressed apology and remorse and made efforts to extend support to former ‘comfort women.’”
I informed the Consul General that Japan’s position on the Armenian Genocide is not much different from that of Turkey. I asked Mr. Niimi to relay to his country’s Foreign Ministry that Japan’s lack of acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide reinforces the skepticism of those who question the Japanese government’s sincerity in dealing fairly with the issue of ‘comfort women.’
In response, the Consul General of Japan expressed his understanding that “the word tragedy doesn’t sound good to you, because it’s genocide.” He promised to convey to his government “the sentiments of the Armenian community” on this issue.
Discussion Policy
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. Though you are fully responsible for the content you post, comments that include profanity, personal attacks or other inappropriate material will not be permitted. Asbarez.com reserves the right to block users who violate any of our posting standards and policies.
6 Responses
for “Japan and Turkey: On ‘Comfort Women’ and Genocide”
Satenik says:
September 3, 2013 at 11:23 am
Japan must recognise the Armenian Genocide. Words alone carry little weight!
Reply
Ararat says:
September 3, 2013 at 2:01 pm
The reason why Japan, and other countries for that matter, take responsibility for their past misdeeds and come clean with their criminal past and financially compensate for their transgressions is because that is where everything ends. In a manner of speaking, they are buying their way out of their shameful acts and the sufferings they caused on their victims.
In the Armenian case, on the other hand, the admission and the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government does not end there and instead it is where everything begins. The admission of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government will be like opening a Pandora’s Box which will uncover a whole series of “unexpected” problems for Turkey. But unlike a series of unexpected problems, Turkey is well aware and has already calculated and foresees all the “expected” problems that will follow. That is why it is much more economical and sound for Turkey to lie, to issue empty threats and blackmail any nation that speaks about the Armenian Genocide.
Unlike the Japanese issue and apologies and compensations to the victims, tied to the Armenian Genocide by the Turks are the occupied Armenian provinces in which their victims lived and called home for thousands of years, in which they were murdered and from which they were expelled and deported. The criminal Turkish government is fully aware of this and that is why they have to lie and make up different stories year after year to deny their criminal past. If this was not the case, the Armenian Genocide resolution would have already been a thing of the past.
One of the primary enablers of Turkey to continue on this path of misinformation and denial is its NATO membership. Turkey’s insincere and opportunist criminal leaders know they can always play the “loyal” NATO member country role and make empty threats against their European and US NATO masters by reminding them of Turkey’s significance in the region and the many corrupt and spineless NATO member countries will fold like lawn chairs because at the end of the day most of them, while fully aware and with first-hand knowledge in this matter, are after their own self-interests.
The way you make Turkey face its genocidal past and the way you bring Turkey to its knees is by working toward isolating Turkey. By reducing and eventually eliminating its significance in the region to the adventures, or misadventures depending on your point of view, of the westerners you create the ground work for the expulsion of Turkey from the NATO alliance. The day Turkey ceases to be a NATO ally is the day the Armenians will get their long-awaited justice fully and unequivocally.
Reply
Eiji Nakano says:
September 3, 2013 at 6:12 pm
Stop to mix up Comfort women issue and genocide.
And Japan will fight to Korean for “Comfort women” issue becuase it becomes pure duplomatic and political issue.
Reply
LL says:
September 3, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Ask them: What did they gain and loose by accepting responsibility of the “Comfort Women”?
I feel that the Women have the right to feel the way they do, no reason can be given to cover their emotions.
Reply
Andrew Lee says:
September 4, 2013 at 8:26 am
Point out that Japan has been more forthcoming about its own atrocities than Turkey regarding the Amenian Genocide is a bit like pointing out that a pot is blacker than a kettle. You’ve listed Japan’s “acts of atonement” without presenting why they are rejected by the surviving former sex slaves and their advocates.
Abe is the last in a long line of Japanese politicians who have openly claimed that the sex slaves were common prostitutes. Part of his campaign promises while running for the PM office was a promise to retract the Murayama’s 1995 expression of “deep remorse” and hearfelt apology.” How Jun Niimi can claim Japan has been apologized and offered compensation about something that his current PM and other Japanese politicians, academics popularly deny seems to be some sort of special Zen (il)logic trick.
The compensation offered was also a joke. These women are not looking for handouts. It was for the express purpose of denying responsibility that his fund was accrued from private donations by the public. The solution to atrocities committed is not to pass the hat around as if these women are some charity case looking for handouts. What is needed in response to these atrocities is TRUTH with hopes of RECONCILIATION.
Armenians and Armenian-Americans deserve better than a regurgitation of one-sided Japanese arguments to support their cause regarding the Armenian Genocide.
Reply
Alex Postallian says:
September 4, 2013 at 7:52 pm
I remember in 1941,the Japanese Emissaries,in Washington,bowing and scraping,saying,we friends,no war no war.soon after,they in a sneaky way bombed Pearl Harbor…I have never believed them since.
Reply
California City Unveils ‘Comfort Women’ Statue By Jeyup S Kwaak
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/08/02/california-city-unveils-comfort-women-statue/
August 2, 2013, 6:50 PM
California City Unveils ‘Comfort Women’ Statue
By Jeyup S Kwaak
A statue of a wartime Korean sex slave was unveiled outside South Korea for the first time this week, a milestone for activists seeking international recognition of women taken to serve the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and further pressure on Tokyo to provide fresh compensation.
European Pressphoto Agency
Kim Bok-dong, a former sex slave, attended the dedication ceremony with city council members July 30 in Glendale, Calif.
The sculpture in California drew protests before its unveiling from the local Japanese community and government. Japan’s top spokesman criticized the move following the opening event for the statue.
The 1,100-pound statue in Glendale, Calif., is the work of South Korean sculptor couple Kim Un-seong and Kim Seo-kyeong, who came up with the design of a young girl seated next to an empty chair when they were commissioned to work on the original statue now placed across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. It was installed in 2011 to mark the 1,000th protest held there weekly by now-aged South Korean victims, known as “comfort women.”
Kim Un-seong told Korea Real Time that he and Ms. Kim had sought to depict a realistic portrait of strong but elderly female protesters but changed the image to a girl similar in age to those forced into prostitution decades ago. Some of the girls were believed to be as young as 14, according to historians.
“We thought the victims’ essence should be best shown this way,” Mr. Kim said.
The aged women were portrayed instead in a shadow design beside the girl shaped like an elderly lady. A white butterfly inside the shadow represents reincarnation, according to the artists, meaning they must be compensated by Japan even after death.
Other details of the sculpture include the woman’s clenched fists for anger; unevenly cut hair symbolizing the abrupt break from the women’s homeland; and bare feet that strain to touch the ground to express discomfort.
The empty chair next to her has two meanings, the artists say. On one hand, it pays homage to the women now passed away; on the other hand, it gives a chance for the viewer to sit in the same position as the women being remembered.
Mr. Kim says the statue’s installation overseas brings a stamp of objective approval to this controversial piece of history.
South Korea has called for Japan to do more to settle the long-running dispute over wartime sex slaves, particularly after Korea’s constitutional court in August 2011 ordered the South Korean government to reopen negotiations with Tokyo. Seoul wants Japan to offer more apologies to individual women and revise its compensation scheme to more thoroughly acknowledge the government’s role in forced prostitution.
Tokyo notes a slew of apologies have already been made by Japanese prime ministers and other officials for wartime misdeeds. In addition to a 1965 treaty that settled all wartime claims in return for payments and other assistance, Japan set up a fund for compensation for comfort women and each surviving victim received a signed apology from the then-prime minister.
Some activists and surviving sex slaves rejected the fund because it contributions came from private individuals and companies rather than the state, which they said raised questions about the state’s acceptance of full responsibility.
Korean activists have pushed to build several memorials in honor of the comfort women in the United States at the community level in recent years, with the first plaque installed in a New Jersey town across the river from Manhattan in 2010. A resolution urging the Japanese government to formally apologize and accept responsibility for comfort women was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives six years ago.
Following protests over the Glendale statue, a neighboring town that planned a similar installation is now reconsidering, according to local news reports.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/azuma-kurabu/e/52c09569fae94b8a641c7cfd5d441c60
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gbsfh332/63552948.html
慰安婦像の原型写真が発見されました
5:46 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous 2 wrote:
Yeah, and we’re really really sorry. Really.
Now get off my back.
Banzai.
6:02 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
“The nation that forgets history has no future.”
Maybe it’s time for Korea to face the fact now. Making a “new” history is not remembering it.
6:16 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
To Japan and Korea:
Can you fight each other at your own places?
Don’t bring your fight here to US. We don’t care.
9:26 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It’s not about fighting and beating each other out of animosities. It is done to remember the pains of the past, and tragedies of those who suffered because they were powerless and weak. It is for all humanity to educate our children.
12:58 pm August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
During WWII , Californians jailed Japanese Americans for about 3 years due to racial hatred.
Given that racist heritage, no surprise that they now support Korean lies and false propaganda.
3:42 pm August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It is a fight between Korea & Japan.
If the victim want the prepentrator to remember the pain, built the statue in Japan, then.
It’s annoying that Korea is using US for propraganda. Aren’t you guys always braging about how great Korea is? Don’t relay on US’s politic power, then. Do it yourself.
6:57 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Newspaper JoongAng Ilbo wrote an article in Feb. 24 in 2003, 1 to 25 women who over 20 years old are prostitutes in Korea. San Francisco Chronicle said, official statistics show that men account for nearly 89 percent of Koreans with HIV. According to the document of United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime, even now rape criminals happened in Korea 13%. Japan is 1.78%. Also, LAPD official said some 70-80 prostitutes were arrested every month, and 90 percent of them were Korean ladies.On the other hand, the New York Times on Jan. 8, 2009 said Korean prostitutes put U.S military and Korean government on trial. They complained about having been forced into sex with Americans in Korea. Japan is criticized over the so called comfort women problem which was happened in the war by South Korea. I’m sorry I can’t believe what the Korean say!
7:16 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
The NY Times on Jan. 8, 2009 said Korean prostitutes put U.S military and Korean government on trial. They complained about having been forced sex with Americans in Korea. They worked as comfort women from 1960 to 1980 in Korea. Moreover, an LAPD official said some 70-80 prostitutes were arrested every month, and 90 percent of them were Korean. Were they forced to be sexual slaveries by the Japanese military? Was the story true?
According to the Korea police department report in 1955, the number of comfort women is 61,833, who worked for only U.S soldiers. In 1962, about 20,000 comfort women worked for U.S soldiers. According to the New York Times Jan. 8, 2009, Korean comfort women took U.S military and Korean government to court. Women said they were forced to having sex with U.S soldiers from 1960 to 1980 in Korea.
Moreover, some prostitutes have asked for money to Japan because they were compelled the work by the Japanese during the war. In fact, 1 to 25 women who over 20 years old are prostitutes in 2003 in Korea. Therefore, Korean government expressed strong concern about the problem, so it established a new law against the prostitutes. As a result, some prostitutes spread to other countries for work, the statistic shows.
Needless to say South Korea is a big prostitutes’ country. South Korea women want to get the job for money. After they grow old, they ask indemnities to other courtiers and their own government. Koreans prostitutes were compelled the work by the Japanese and American soldiers? I don’t think so.
7:17 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
About 23,000 women work as prostitutes in Australia. 25% to them are from oversea. And over 1,000 women came from South Korea, which means 16.9% of prostitutes who came from oversea are South Korean ladies. South Korean ladies enter Australia with working holiday Visa. This problem also happened in Japan, Canada and New Zealand, because Korean government carried out a new law against prostitutes, which numbers were very high in Korea, in 2004.
South Korean ladies work as prostitutes in other countries such as Japan, the United States and Australia. In the United States, they often set a signboard which is written TOKYO Sauna or TOKYO Health Spa to their brothels; in short they pretend to be Japanese. In Australia, South Koreans advertise in some newspapers Japanese girls 18 years old. Please stop such a ridiculous act!
8:55 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
My friends of Korean has been said some pro-Japan opinion about confort women in South Korea. They erased by social sanction of Korean society and further arrested and punished by the court. No freedom of speech, no justice within South Korea regarding pro-Japan statement. Illegal forces against such pro-Japan Korean were permitted by police and court. All of Korean media radically critisized any of pro-Japan statements and positively attacked such individuals for social sanctions. In don’t understand why the US people are silly for that biased, fabricated statement, injustice and unfairness. Where is the democracy of the US?
3:15 am August 4, 2013
Anonymous 2 wrote:
No, I really am sorry. Really.
But you know Tojo was Korean. As a matter of fact, the whole Japanese royal family is Korean.
If you investigate all the historical trouble makers in Japan, you’ll find they’re all Korean. They control the media and own all our banks. We’re really peaceful, open minded people, but those Koreans make me just “soooo” mad.
Why won’t anybody listen to me? You’re all against me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
5:28 am August 4, 2013
Koreans are rude wrote:
And the worst drivers, but it is funny that they want to erect so many statues in USA, which is neither korea nor japan. How about a statue of thanks to USA for ending Japan’s conquest of all of East Asia?
7:32 am August 4, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during World War II are well known. Western scholars have researched numerous aspects of these atrocities.
Tokyo has apologized for the crimes. Further apologies are unnecessary. Further, Tokyo gave $650 million of compensation to Seoul in the early 1960s to settle all claims related to the war. In 2013 American dollars, that compensation is worth tens of billions of dollars.
Despite the repeated demands from Koreans for ever more apologies and ever more compensation, they are not warranted. The Japanese owe nothing more to the Koreans who were born after the war.
One last thing remains, but neither the Koreans nor the Chinese demand it. Tokyo must nationalize the Yasukuni Shrine and must remove the war criminals enshrined there. The Japanese must show that their heart is in the right place by removing these criminals from a place of national honor.
Only after the removal of these criminals, the Japanese people can and should re-arm. They should terminate any military relations with Seoul and view South Korea as hostile territory.
8:08 am August 4, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Do you see the White building Hell Ship memorial?
1:02 pm August 4, 2013
First of all wrote:
Please stop sending numerous South Korean prostitutes to Japan. They are illegal immigrants here. South Korean government doesn’t do anything for this issue.
3:37 pm August 4, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Korea did not fight against Japan in the WWII. Those 2 countries became one due to annexation. Korean and Japanese fighted together against US. So, Japan is not liable for compensation to Korea, because of one country. Only Japan made the postwar settlement for Asian countries, but Korea didn’t.
3:38 pm August 4, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
洪思翊, Hong Sa Ik, he was Korean, who was Lieutenant General of Japanese Imperial Army. 朴春琴, Park Chun-geum was a member of House of Representatives in Tokyo. A seat in the House of Representatives was an elective post. He was elected twice from his district in Tokyo. Many Korean men joined the Japanese Imperial Army, and some Korean experts supported their countries because Korea was the same country as Japan, but they did not pay any postwar reparations to Asian countries.
4:01 pm August 4, 2013
ikehana wrote:
The ashes of war criminals detained at Sugamo prison and later excuted , cremated in Yokohama, were scattered over the pacific by US Army planes. No ash of the war criminals is at Yasukuni. I just want to clarify the point.
4:33 pm August 4, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
The Yasukuni Shrine includes the names (not necessarily, the physical remains) of about 1000 war criminals. Their names and anything that attaches them to the shrine should be removed.
The shrine is a disgrace in its current form. Article 9 of the constitution should not be repealed until the war criminals are removed from the shrine.
5:23 am August 5, 2013
Daniel wrote:
Omg I’m afraid to comment with all these compassionate Japanese commenting one after one…
What rock did you all crawl out from? Time to go back under it and keep thinking that
- imperialism/colonization is good for the conquered country and
- all all those 80-90 year old Korean, Filipina, Dutch, etc. women are really making up stories of being raped by Japanese soldiers all day and night because that’s actually how they want to be remembered in history before they pass away, as lying rape victims, right? Give me a break…
7:21 am August 5, 2013
Kill the Japs wrote:
My grand uncle fought the japs in the pacific in the 1940s. He said his unit hacked and tortured Japanese prisoners to death, took their gold teeth, did all sorts of terrible things to them without any remorse, and no one cared – the Japs were like animals.
I was shocked when I heard about this, but now that I read these comments I’m kind of glad his unit did this – the Japs were cruel and merciless, so why should they be treated with any decency?
7:30 am August 5, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
Prostitution in South Korea is indeed big business. It generates 4% of the gross domestic product of South Korea.
That startling fact does not diminish the gravity of the atrocity known as “comfort women”. Japanese soldiers raped them. The brutality of the rapes caused some of the women to become sterile.
Tokyo has already apologized and has already paid tens of billions of dollars (in 2013 American dollars) of compensation to Seoul. That reparation was given in the early 1960s. Seoul waited until the late 1990s to finally start disbursing the compensation to the former “comfort women”.
Why did Seoul wait so long to disburse the compensation to the victims? The governments of South Korea in 1960-1999 felt that the compensation should be invested in Korean economic development, ignoring the suffering of the “comfort women”.
7:50 am August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Ano
8:01 am August 5, 2013
To : Daniel wrote:
Do you know they have already lost at the trial in the US ? The US court admited those comfort women were telling lies. The Korean government never bring this issues to the International court of Justice, since they can predict the result. . . Japanese have never protested againt the monuments for Pearl Harvor and the other victims in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines. . . Why ? because it’s truth.
8:15 am August 5, 2013
Met wrote:
What are you talking about?
8:25 am August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Story of comfort women is pretentious history of South Korea, much less the coined word of “sex slave”.
8:34 am August 5, 2013
Met wrote:
So what super computer filter are you running these comments through?
8:47 am August 5, 2013
CruelAbe wrote:
In April 2007, the archives of Tokyo Trials disclosed the Tokeitai (naval secret police) members arrested women on the streets, and after enforced medical examinations, put them for raping by military men for prompt release of dopamine which charged them to kill more people at the frontline, which was the main objective of the Japanese imperial army. It was far more barbaric than modern day Al-Qaeda or Hitler and Stalin combined.
8:49 am August 5, 2013
CruelAbe wrote:
In 2007, the surviving sex slaves wanted an apology from the Japanese government. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, stated on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of brothels in 1993. Irony is Abe still attends the Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese war criminals shine) regularly as a prime minister, just like Angela Merkel attending and worshipping Nazi shrine which is unimaginable in the civilized Western society. He simply is a savage politician with no ability for redemption in my opinion.
8:51 am August 5, 2013
AbeTheWarmonger wrote:
In 2007, the surviving sex slaves wanted an apology from the Japanese government. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, stated on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of brothels in 1993. Irony is Abe still attends the Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese war criminals shine) regularly as a prime minister, just like Angela Merkel attending and worshipping Nazi shrine which is unimaginable in the civilized Western society. He simply is a savage politician with no ability for redemption in my opinion.
11:56 am August 5, 2013
ednakano wrote:
Amerivan cannot abuse Japanese with this issue. US military used same system after WWII in Japan , Korea, Vietnam, Iraqbetc. And Now US military is using internal “comfort women”. 1/3 of women soldiers are raped or enforce to be prostitution.
Learn your history.
Korean’s nex tearget is USA because They have more “comfort wonen or “Sex slave” served to US miliary. They are young and they have more firm evidence about it.
12:07 pm August 5, 2013
ednakano wrote:
11 Korean comfort women reciept compensation and PM letter through AWF(Asian women Fund). And they were banished socially. And today “Ex-comfort women” who abuse Japan enjoying rich life in S.Korea. They are political and duplomatic stars.
On the other hand, Many Korean women were served to US military “sex slave” . Korean Gorv. never care their human rights and let employers to maek unfare contruct. Those comfort women could not escape until NGO help them. Korean Gorv. still never care those women and let export them to Japan, USA, Australia, etc. Korean 5% of GDP comes form those prostitution industry with sex slaves.
1:35 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Japan is criticized over the so called comfort women problem which was happened in the war. How comfort women problem differ from these prostitutes? Attackers against Japan over the comfort women problem said that they, prostitutes for Japanese military, were forced into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery by the Japanese military organization. Was it true? In fact Japanese military had not forced these women.
What was happened actually? Many brothel owners opened their business next to military gates. It was a natural because they could make more money. This is quite natural. Therefore Japanese military did not open these brothels during the war, but brothels owners who were local people in the countries which Japanese troops were dispatched. Were they hurt by the Japanese? We can’t find any evidence of that except ladies verbal statements.
1:36 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
According to the Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report No. 49, which was reported by U.S in Aug 20 to Sept 10, 1944, 20 of Korean ladies were working as comfort women in Japanese camp during WW2. The “house master” that means manager of the comfort house, received 50 to 60% of the girls’ gross earnings depending on how much of a debt each girl had incurred when she signed her contract.
In other words, Korean ladies decided to get the job. In fact, they got a lot of money. Also, they amused themselves by participating in sports events with both officers and men, and attended picnics, entertainments, and social dinners. They had a phonograph and in the towns they were allowed to go shopping. The Ladies were allowed the prerogative of refusing a customer.
2:17 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
The recruitment of wartime prostitutes were done partially through newspapers published in Korea.
4:04 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Needless to say South Korea is a big prostitutes country. South Korea women want to get the job for money. After they grow old, they ask indemnities to other countries and thier own government. Koreans prostitutes wrer compelled the work by the Japanese and American soldiers?? I don’t think so.
6:46 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Where are the statues for the estimated 50,000 South Korean prostitutes currently in Japan? In the eyes of the South Koreans, they must be forced to be prostitutes by the Japanese.
7:41 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
The monthly income of war time prostitutes were 10x of average soldiers. According to the recruitment ads for prostitutes, there was even an upfront one time payment to the women. By the way, none of the testitmonies of wartime prostitutes make any sense. There was one former “Comfort Woman” in the US lately claiming she was taken to India in 1940 to work in a brothel for Japanese soldiers. 1940 India is under BRITISH RULE!
7:56 pm August 5, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Brothels were owned and managed by Korean men in those days and Japanese soldiers used such brothels paying money to Korean owners. It was a business for Korean brothel owners. No force by Japanese soldiers.
9:05 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Most of the police force in Colonial Korea were local Koreans.
10:48 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Why Autralia and India never complain about comfort women? Because it is a lie create by Koreans
8:40 am August 6, 2013
from Japan wrote:
Dear Glendale Residence,
What would happen if Japanese people decide to sue your city of Glendale?
Does the city pay for the court fee using American taxes?
I hope Glendale keeps a good relationship with South Koreans, so Koreans would cover this court fee.
from Tokyo, JAPAN
8:55 am August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
OINK!
9:24 am August 6, 2013
AwesomeGaijin wrote:
i don’t know who the anti-Korean “anonymous” is, but just so you know, I’ve been having LOTS of sex with japanese women who tell me that japanese men can’t satisfy them – this is why japan’s birth rate is declining!
10:07 am August 6, 2013
AwesomeNihonjin wrote:
Mr. AwesomeGaijin. You sound awesome. I let you have sex with me too, and I am a man.
12:21 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Too many South Korean Comfort Women in Japan. Please stop exporting your prostitutes.
2:48 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It’s illegal to be comfort women in South Korea, so they go to Australia, US, Japan, China.
3:47 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
One day Japan will rule the world. These memorials will all get destroy! Banzai Japan!
8:09 am August 7, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Statutes for prostitutes in California. Why ain’t I surprised…
3:01 pm August 7, 2013
AwesomeGaijin wrote:
hey little japanese man, no surprise there, japanese men are small and feminine, so of course I’d bone you.
3:48 pm August 7, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Hey Korean men (that is, “men” for lack of a better expression).
Here, a question:
when Japanese colonized you,
that very day, what did your grandfathers do?
Worn their pink clothes and powdered their faces (like you do today) and promeda at Jongro looking for Japanese men (I mean “men as real men”)?
Lol. You are so pathetic.
Does a CA statute help relieve your pain?
The whole world continues to ride on your women.
No wonder you hate the whole world.
Lol
2:57 pm August 9, 2013
unreal... wrote:
Wow! I am blown away a the level of disgusting comments from what seems like Japanese posters. I am starting to realize now that maybe the Koreans aren’t just complaining over nothing… What a reaction!
Shame on you Japanese… Shame on you Japan…
12:24 am August 11, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
There are actually more disgusting comments from what seems like Korean posters, and many tries to impost as non-Korean, which is awfully disgusting.
4:36 am August 12, 2013
Guess who I am wrote:
Hey idiot japs.
You can’t get away from whatever you’ve done during the war.
You gotta pay us for at least 1000 years.
You kidnapped 300 thousands and murdered half million of our people.
And stole treasures from us.
There won’t be enough to pay us back.
You should be on your née forever.
Don’t ever talk back to Korea.
You are slaves now.
9:20 am August 13, 2013
ednakano wrote:
Most of American citizen shoudl recognize what is korea gorv. and media.
1) Check Airplain accident of Asiana Airline. Not only Airline but Gorvement and media of korea start debate to escape responsibility.
2) Until 1990s, “Confort women” meant “prostitutes for UN militaly (including US)” in Korea. Korean historian publish report about those “UN comfort women” in 2002. They were real sex slave. At that time Korean Military intelligence agency can caught women if they said “she is supporter of communist.” Most of case whose women were raped by agency and sent ot camp town and enforce to be prostitutes.
3) S.Korean use “Comfort women” issue as political tool. “Comfort women” and “Takeshima/Dokdo” are best too to hiding domestic problem.
4) Korean often compare Germany and Japan. They ask Japan to make treatment as Germany. However Germany never pologize and compansate Germany “Comfort women” who were enforced to be prostitutes. And Germany paid notning to other countries. If S.Korea hope Germany way, Japan need to ask repayment of 300M$(1965value) and remained assets compensation (around billion $).
10:40 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
I will just make three points here. 1) Many Japanese, including Japanese politicians at the highest levels of government, deny that comfort women were deceived or coerced into prostitution and that the Japanese military was officially involved in setting up the brothels. This is pretty self-evident, just looking at some of the comments here. The current Primer Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has articulated this view as well. 2) There have been eyewitness accounts from women of different nationalities as well as written surviving documents that indicate the official involvement of the Japanese government. These documents come from Japanese, American, and Dutch archives. The U.S. House of Representatives, the New York State Assembly, the New Jersey State Assembly, the Illinois State Assembly reviewed and considered these written documents and testimonies when they passed resolutions calling on the Japanese Government to acknowledge their responsibility. 3) Whether Koreans are habitual liars, inferior to the Japanese, criminally inclined by nature, predisposed to prostitution, etc. etc. as charged by the posters here has bearing whatsoever on whether the Japanese government recruited Korean women for sexual slavery using deception and/or force. I hope some of these Japanese posters will realize that they are only making themselves look bad, but I doubt that they are that intelligent.
10:46 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
The reason why Koreans dwell on the Comfort Women issue is because of the Japanese denial, very simple. The reason why American federal and state governments are taking a position is because, while Americans have no direct interest in this matter, Americans are largely fair-minded people and try to stand on the side of justice especially when it comes to human rights.
10:54 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
Oh, I forgot about the resolution by the California State Assembly.
August 2, 2013, 6:50 PM
California City Unveils ‘Comfort Women’ Statue
By Jeyup S Kwaak
A statue of a wartime Korean sex slave was unveiled outside South Korea for the first time this week, a milestone for activists seeking international recognition of women taken to serve the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and further pressure on Tokyo to provide fresh compensation.
European Pressphoto Agency
Kim Bok-dong, a former sex slave, attended the dedication ceremony with city council members July 30 in Glendale, Calif.
The sculpture in California drew protests before its unveiling from the local Japanese community and government. Japan’s top spokesman criticized the move following the opening event for the statue.
The 1,100-pound statue in Glendale, Calif., is the work of South Korean sculptor couple Kim Un-seong and Kim Seo-kyeong, who came up with the design of a young girl seated next to an empty chair when they were commissioned to work on the original statue now placed across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. It was installed in 2011 to mark the 1,000th protest held there weekly by now-aged South Korean victims, known as “comfort women.”
Kim Un-seong told Korea Real Time that he and Ms. Kim had sought to depict a realistic portrait of strong but elderly female protesters but changed the image to a girl similar in age to those forced into prostitution decades ago. Some of the girls were believed to be as young as 14, according to historians.
“We thought the victims’ essence should be best shown this way,” Mr. Kim said.
The aged women were portrayed instead in a shadow design beside the girl shaped like an elderly lady. A white butterfly inside the shadow represents reincarnation, according to the artists, meaning they must be compensated by Japan even after death.
Other details of the sculpture include the woman’s clenched fists for anger; unevenly cut hair symbolizing the abrupt break from the women’s homeland; and bare feet that strain to touch the ground to express discomfort.
The empty chair next to her has two meanings, the artists say. On one hand, it pays homage to the women now passed away; on the other hand, it gives a chance for the viewer to sit in the same position as the women being remembered.
Mr. Kim says the statue’s installation overseas brings a stamp of objective approval to this controversial piece of history.
South Korea has called for Japan to do more to settle the long-running dispute over wartime sex slaves, particularly after Korea’s constitutional court in August 2011 ordered the South Korean government to reopen negotiations with Tokyo. Seoul wants Japan to offer more apologies to individual women and revise its compensation scheme to more thoroughly acknowledge the government’s role in forced prostitution.
Tokyo notes a slew of apologies have already been made by Japanese prime ministers and other officials for wartime misdeeds. In addition to a 1965 treaty that settled all wartime claims in return for payments and other assistance, Japan set up a fund for compensation for comfort women and each surviving victim received a signed apology from the then-prime minister.
Some activists and surviving sex slaves rejected the fund because it contributions came from private individuals and companies rather than the state, which they said raised questions about the state’s acceptance of full responsibility.
Korean activists have pushed to build several memorials in honor of the comfort women in the United States at the community level in recent years, with the first plaque installed in a New Jersey town across the river from Manhattan in 2010. A resolution urging the Japanese government to formally apologize and accept responsibility for comfort women was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives six years ago.
Following protests over the Glendale statue, a neighboring town that planned a similar installation is now reconsidering, according to local news reports.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/azuma-kurabu/e/52c09569fae94b8a641c7cfd5d441c60
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gbsfh332/63552948.html
慰安婦像の原型写真が発見されました
5:46 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous 2 wrote:
Yeah, and we’re really really sorry. Really.
Now get off my back.
Banzai.
6:02 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
“The nation that forgets history has no future.”
Maybe it’s time for Korea to face the fact now. Making a “new” history is not remembering it.
6:16 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
To Japan and Korea:
Can you fight each other at your own places?
Don’t bring your fight here to US. We don’t care.
9:26 am August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It’s not about fighting and beating each other out of animosities. It is done to remember the pains of the past, and tragedies of those who suffered because they were powerless and weak. It is for all humanity to educate our children.
12:58 pm August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
During WWII , Californians jailed Japanese Americans for about 3 years due to racial hatred.
Given that racist heritage, no surprise that they now support Korean lies and false propaganda.
3:42 pm August 3, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It is a fight between Korea & Japan.
If the victim want the prepentrator to remember the pain, built the statue in Japan, then.
It’s annoying that Korea is using US for propraganda. Aren’t you guys always braging about how great Korea is? Don’t relay on US’s politic power, then. Do it yourself.
6:57 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Newspaper JoongAng Ilbo wrote an article in Feb. 24 in 2003, 1 to 25 women who over 20 years old are prostitutes in Korea. San Francisco Chronicle said, official statistics show that men account for nearly 89 percent of Koreans with HIV. According to the document of United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime, even now rape criminals happened in Korea 13%. Japan is 1.78%. Also, LAPD official said some 70-80 prostitutes were arrested every month, and 90 percent of them were Korean ladies.On the other hand, the New York Times on Jan. 8, 2009 said Korean prostitutes put U.S military and Korean government on trial. They complained about having been forced into sex with Americans in Korea. Japan is criticized over the so called comfort women problem which was happened in the war by South Korea. I’m sorry I can’t believe what the Korean say!
7:16 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
The NY Times on Jan. 8, 2009 said Korean prostitutes put U.S military and Korean government on trial. They complained about having been forced sex with Americans in Korea. They worked as comfort women from 1960 to 1980 in Korea. Moreover, an LAPD official said some 70-80 prostitutes were arrested every month, and 90 percent of them were Korean. Were they forced to be sexual slaveries by the Japanese military? Was the story true?
According to the Korea police department report in 1955, the number of comfort women is 61,833, who worked for only U.S soldiers. In 1962, about 20,000 comfort women worked for U.S soldiers. According to the New York Times Jan. 8, 2009, Korean comfort women took U.S military and Korean government to court. Women said they were forced to having sex with U.S soldiers from 1960 to 1980 in Korea.
Moreover, some prostitutes have asked for money to Japan because they were compelled the work by the Japanese during the war. In fact, 1 to 25 women who over 20 years old are prostitutes in 2003 in Korea. Therefore, Korean government expressed strong concern about the problem, so it established a new law against the prostitutes. As a result, some prostitutes spread to other countries for work, the statistic shows.
Needless to say South Korea is a big prostitutes’ country. South Korea women want to get the job for money. After they grow old, they ask indemnities to other courtiers and their own government. Koreans prostitutes were compelled the work by the Japanese and American soldiers? I don’t think so.
7:17 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
About 23,000 women work as prostitutes in Australia. 25% to them are from oversea. And over 1,000 women came from South Korea, which means 16.9% of prostitutes who came from oversea are South Korean ladies. South Korean ladies enter Australia with working holiday Visa. This problem also happened in Japan, Canada and New Zealand, because Korean government carried out a new law against prostitutes, which numbers were very high in Korea, in 2004.
South Korean ladies work as prostitutes in other countries such as Japan, the United States and Australia. In the United States, they often set a signboard which is written TOKYO Sauna or TOKYO Health Spa to their brothels; in short they pretend to be Japanese. In Australia, South Koreans advertise in some newspapers Japanese girls 18 years old. Please stop such a ridiculous act!
8:55 pm August 3, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
My friends of Korean has been said some pro-Japan opinion about confort women in South Korea. They erased by social sanction of Korean society and further arrested and punished by the court. No freedom of speech, no justice within South Korea regarding pro-Japan statement. Illegal forces against such pro-Japan Korean were permitted by police and court. All of Korean media radically critisized any of pro-Japan statements and positively attacked such individuals for social sanctions. In don’t understand why the US people are silly for that biased, fabricated statement, injustice and unfairness. Where is the democracy of the US?
3:15 am August 4, 2013
Anonymous 2 wrote:
No, I really am sorry. Really.
But you know Tojo was Korean. As a matter of fact, the whole Japanese royal family is Korean.
If you investigate all the historical trouble makers in Japan, you’ll find they’re all Korean. They control the media and own all our banks. We’re really peaceful, open minded people, but those Koreans make me just “soooo” mad.
Why won’t anybody listen to me? You’re all against me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
5:28 am August 4, 2013
Koreans are rude wrote:
And the worst drivers, but it is funny that they want to erect so many statues in USA, which is neither korea nor japan. How about a statue of thanks to USA for ending Japan’s conquest of all of East Asia?
7:32 am August 4, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during World War II are well known. Western scholars have researched numerous aspects of these atrocities.
Tokyo has apologized for the crimes. Further apologies are unnecessary. Further, Tokyo gave $650 million of compensation to Seoul in the early 1960s to settle all claims related to the war. In 2013 American dollars, that compensation is worth tens of billions of dollars.
Despite the repeated demands from Koreans for ever more apologies and ever more compensation, they are not warranted. The Japanese owe nothing more to the Koreans who were born after the war.
One last thing remains, but neither the Koreans nor the Chinese demand it. Tokyo must nationalize the Yasukuni Shrine and must remove the war criminals enshrined there. The Japanese must show that their heart is in the right place by removing these criminals from a place of national honor.
Only after the removal of these criminals, the Japanese people can and should re-arm. They should terminate any military relations with Seoul and view South Korea as hostile territory.
8:08 am August 4, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Do you see the White building Hell Ship memorial?
1:02 pm August 4, 2013
First of all wrote:
Please stop sending numerous South Korean prostitutes to Japan. They are illegal immigrants here. South Korean government doesn’t do anything for this issue.
3:37 pm August 4, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Korea did not fight against Japan in the WWII. Those 2 countries became one due to annexation. Korean and Japanese fighted together against US. So, Japan is not liable for compensation to Korea, because of one country. Only Japan made the postwar settlement for Asian countries, but Korea didn’t.
3:38 pm August 4, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
洪思翊, Hong Sa Ik, he was Korean, who was Lieutenant General of Japanese Imperial Army. 朴春琴, Park Chun-geum was a member of House of Representatives in Tokyo. A seat in the House of Representatives was an elective post. He was elected twice from his district in Tokyo. Many Korean men joined the Japanese Imperial Army, and some Korean experts supported their countries because Korea was the same country as Japan, but they did not pay any postwar reparations to Asian countries.
4:01 pm August 4, 2013
ikehana wrote:
The ashes of war criminals detained at Sugamo prison and later excuted , cremated in Yokohama, were scattered over the pacific by US Army planes. No ash of the war criminals is at Yasukuni. I just want to clarify the point.
4:33 pm August 4, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
The Yasukuni Shrine includes the names (not necessarily, the physical remains) of about 1000 war criminals. Their names and anything that attaches them to the shrine should be removed.
The shrine is a disgrace in its current form. Article 9 of the constitution should not be repealed until the war criminals are removed from the shrine.
5:23 am August 5, 2013
Daniel wrote:
Omg I’m afraid to comment with all these compassionate Japanese commenting one after one…
What rock did you all crawl out from? Time to go back under it and keep thinking that
- imperialism/colonization is good for the conquered country and
- all all those 80-90 year old Korean, Filipina, Dutch, etc. women are really making up stories of being raped by Japanese soldiers all day and night because that’s actually how they want to be remembered in history before they pass away, as lying rape victims, right? Give me a break…
7:21 am August 5, 2013
Kill the Japs wrote:
My grand uncle fought the japs in the pacific in the 1940s. He said his unit hacked and tortured Japanese prisoners to death, took their gold teeth, did all sorts of terrible things to them without any remorse, and no one cared – the Japs were like animals.
I was shocked when I heard about this, but now that I read these comments I’m kind of glad his unit did this – the Japs were cruel and merciless, so why should they be treated with any decency?
7:30 am August 5, 2013
reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ wrote:
Prostitution in South Korea is indeed big business. It generates 4% of the gross domestic product of South Korea.
That startling fact does not diminish the gravity of the atrocity known as “comfort women”. Japanese soldiers raped them. The brutality of the rapes caused some of the women to become sterile.
Tokyo has already apologized and has already paid tens of billions of dollars (in 2013 American dollars) of compensation to Seoul. That reparation was given in the early 1960s. Seoul waited until the late 1990s to finally start disbursing the compensation to the former “comfort women”.
Why did Seoul wait so long to disburse the compensation to the victims? The governments of South Korea in 1960-1999 felt that the compensation should be invested in Korean economic development, ignoring the suffering of the “comfort women”.
7:50 am August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Ano
8:01 am August 5, 2013
To : Daniel wrote:
Do you know they have already lost at the trial in the US ? The US court admited those comfort women were telling lies. The Korean government never bring this issues to the International court of Justice, since they can predict the result. . . Japanese have never protested againt the monuments for Pearl Harvor and the other victims in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines. . . Why ? because it’s truth.
8:15 am August 5, 2013
Met wrote:
What are you talking about?
8:25 am August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Story of comfort women is pretentious history of South Korea, much less the coined word of “sex slave”.
8:34 am August 5, 2013
Met wrote:
So what super computer filter are you running these comments through?
8:47 am August 5, 2013
CruelAbe wrote:
In April 2007, the archives of Tokyo Trials disclosed the Tokeitai (naval secret police) members arrested women on the streets, and after enforced medical examinations, put them for raping by military men for prompt release of dopamine which charged them to kill more people at the frontline, which was the main objective of the Japanese imperial army. It was far more barbaric than modern day Al-Qaeda or Hitler and Stalin combined.
8:49 am August 5, 2013
CruelAbe wrote:
In 2007, the surviving sex slaves wanted an apology from the Japanese government. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, stated on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of brothels in 1993. Irony is Abe still attends the Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese war criminals shine) regularly as a prime minister, just like Angela Merkel attending and worshipping Nazi shrine which is unimaginable in the civilized Western society. He simply is a savage politician with no ability for redemption in my opinion.
8:51 am August 5, 2013
AbeTheWarmonger wrote:
In 2007, the surviving sex slaves wanted an apology from the Japanese government. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, stated on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of brothels in 1993. Irony is Abe still attends the Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese war criminals shine) regularly as a prime minister, just like Angela Merkel attending and worshipping Nazi shrine which is unimaginable in the civilized Western society. He simply is a savage politician with no ability for redemption in my opinion.
11:56 am August 5, 2013
ednakano wrote:
Amerivan cannot abuse Japanese with this issue. US military used same system after WWII in Japan , Korea, Vietnam, Iraqbetc. And Now US military is using internal “comfort women”. 1/3 of women soldiers are raped or enforce to be prostitution.
Learn your history.
Korean’s nex tearget is USA because They have more “comfort wonen or “Sex slave” served to US miliary. They are young and they have more firm evidence about it.
12:07 pm August 5, 2013
ednakano wrote:
11 Korean comfort women reciept compensation and PM letter through AWF(Asian women Fund). And they were banished socially. And today “Ex-comfort women” who abuse Japan enjoying rich life in S.Korea. They are political and duplomatic stars.
On the other hand, Many Korean women were served to US military “sex slave” . Korean Gorv. never care their human rights and let employers to maek unfare contruct. Those comfort women could not escape until NGO help them. Korean Gorv. still never care those women and let export them to Japan, USA, Australia, etc. Korean 5% of GDP comes form those prostitution industry with sex slaves.
1:35 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Japan is criticized over the so called comfort women problem which was happened in the war. How comfort women problem differ from these prostitutes? Attackers against Japan over the comfort women problem said that they, prostitutes for Japanese military, were forced into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery by the Japanese military organization. Was it true? In fact Japanese military had not forced these women.
What was happened actually? Many brothel owners opened their business next to military gates. It was a natural because they could make more money. This is quite natural. Therefore Japanese military did not open these brothels during the war, but brothels owners who were local people in the countries which Japanese troops were dispatched. Were they hurt by the Japanese? We can’t find any evidence of that except ladies verbal statements.
1:36 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
According to the Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report No. 49, which was reported by U.S in Aug 20 to Sept 10, 1944, 20 of Korean ladies were working as comfort women in Japanese camp during WW2. The “house master” that means manager of the comfort house, received 50 to 60% of the girls’ gross earnings depending on how much of a debt each girl had incurred when she signed her contract.
In other words, Korean ladies decided to get the job. In fact, they got a lot of money. Also, they amused themselves by participating in sports events with both officers and men, and attended picnics, entertainments, and social dinners. They had a phonograph and in the towns they were allowed to go shopping. The Ladies were allowed the prerogative of refusing a customer.
2:17 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
The recruitment of wartime prostitutes were done partially through newspapers published in Korea.
4:04 pm August 5, 2013
No more racism wrote:
Needless to say South Korea is a big prostitutes country. South Korea women want to get the job for money. After they grow old, they ask indemnities to other countries and thier own government. Koreans prostitutes wrer compelled the work by the Japanese and American soldiers?? I don’t think so.
6:46 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Where are the statues for the estimated 50,000 South Korean prostitutes currently in Japan? In the eyes of the South Koreans, they must be forced to be prostitutes by the Japanese.
7:41 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
The monthly income of war time prostitutes were 10x of average soldiers. According to the recruitment ads for prostitutes, there was even an upfront one time payment to the women. By the way, none of the testitmonies of wartime prostitutes make any sense. There was one former “Comfort Woman” in the US lately claiming she was taken to India in 1940 to work in a brothel for Japanese soldiers. 1940 India is under BRITISH RULE!
7:56 pm August 5, 2013
No Freedom of Speech in South Korea wrote:
Brothels were owned and managed by Korean men in those days and Japanese soldiers used such brothels paying money to Korean owners. It was a business for Korean brothel owners. No force by Japanese soldiers.
9:05 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Most of the police force in Colonial Korea were local Koreans.
10:48 pm August 5, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Why Autralia and India never complain about comfort women? Because it is a lie create by Koreans
8:40 am August 6, 2013
from Japan wrote:
Dear Glendale Residence,
What would happen if Japanese people decide to sue your city of Glendale?
Does the city pay for the court fee using American taxes?
I hope Glendale keeps a good relationship with South Koreans, so Koreans would cover this court fee.
from Tokyo, JAPAN
8:55 am August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
OINK!
9:24 am August 6, 2013
AwesomeGaijin wrote:
i don’t know who the anti-Korean “anonymous” is, but just so you know, I’ve been having LOTS of sex with japanese women who tell me that japanese men can’t satisfy them – this is why japan’s birth rate is declining!
10:07 am August 6, 2013
AwesomeNihonjin wrote:
Mr. AwesomeGaijin. You sound awesome. I let you have sex with me too, and I am a man.
12:21 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Too many South Korean Comfort Women in Japan. Please stop exporting your prostitutes.
2:48 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
It’s illegal to be comfort women in South Korea, so they go to Australia, US, Japan, China.
3:47 pm August 6, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
One day Japan will rule the world. These memorials will all get destroy! Banzai Japan!
8:09 am August 7, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Statutes for prostitutes in California. Why ain’t I surprised…
3:01 pm August 7, 2013
AwesomeGaijin wrote:
hey little japanese man, no surprise there, japanese men are small and feminine, so of course I’d bone you.
3:48 pm August 7, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
Hey Korean men (that is, “men” for lack of a better expression).
Here, a question:
when Japanese colonized you,
that very day, what did your grandfathers do?
Worn their pink clothes and powdered their faces (like you do today) and promeda at Jongro looking for Japanese men (I mean “men as real men”)?
Lol. You are so pathetic.
Does a CA statute help relieve your pain?
The whole world continues to ride on your women.
No wonder you hate the whole world.
Lol
2:57 pm August 9, 2013
unreal... wrote:
Wow! I am blown away a the level of disgusting comments from what seems like Japanese posters. I am starting to realize now that maybe the Koreans aren’t just complaining over nothing… What a reaction!
Shame on you Japanese… Shame on you Japan…
12:24 am August 11, 2013
Anonymous wrote:
There are actually more disgusting comments from what seems like Korean posters, and many tries to impost as non-Korean, which is awfully disgusting.
4:36 am August 12, 2013
Guess who I am wrote:
Hey idiot japs.
You can’t get away from whatever you’ve done during the war.
You gotta pay us for at least 1000 years.
You kidnapped 300 thousands and murdered half million of our people.
And stole treasures from us.
There won’t be enough to pay us back.
You should be on your née forever.
Don’t ever talk back to Korea.
You are slaves now.
9:20 am August 13, 2013
ednakano wrote:
Most of American citizen shoudl recognize what is korea gorv. and media.
1) Check Airplain accident of Asiana Airline. Not only Airline but Gorvement and media of korea start debate to escape responsibility.
2) Until 1990s, “Confort women” meant “prostitutes for UN militaly (including US)” in Korea. Korean historian publish report about those “UN comfort women” in 2002. They were real sex slave. At that time Korean Military intelligence agency can caught women if they said “she is supporter of communist.” Most of case whose women were raped by agency and sent ot camp town and enforce to be prostitutes.
3) S.Korean use “Comfort women” issue as political tool. “Comfort women” and “Takeshima/Dokdo” are best too to hiding domestic problem.
4) Korean often compare Germany and Japan. They ask Japan to make treatment as Germany. However Germany never pologize and compansate Germany “Comfort women” who were enforced to be prostitutes. And Germany paid notning to other countries. If S.Korea hope Germany way, Japan need to ask repayment of 300M$(1965value) and remained assets compensation (around billion $).
10:40 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
I will just make three points here. 1) Many Japanese, including Japanese politicians at the highest levels of government, deny that comfort women were deceived or coerced into prostitution and that the Japanese military was officially involved in setting up the brothels. This is pretty self-evident, just looking at some of the comments here. The current Primer Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has articulated this view as well. 2) There have been eyewitness accounts from women of different nationalities as well as written surviving documents that indicate the official involvement of the Japanese government. These documents come from Japanese, American, and Dutch archives. The U.S. House of Representatives, the New York State Assembly, the New Jersey State Assembly, the Illinois State Assembly reviewed and considered these written documents and testimonies when they passed resolutions calling on the Japanese Government to acknowledge their responsibility. 3) Whether Koreans are habitual liars, inferior to the Japanese, criminally inclined by nature, predisposed to prostitution, etc. etc. as charged by the posters here has bearing whatsoever on whether the Japanese government recruited Korean women for sexual slavery using deception and/or force. I hope some of these Japanese posters will realize that they are only making themselves look bad, but I doubt that they are that intelligent.
10:46 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
The reason why Koreans dwell on the Comfort Women issue is because of the Japanese denial, very simple. The reason why American federal and state governments are taking a position is because, while Americans have no direct interest in this matter, Americans are largely fair-minded people and try to stand on the side of justice especially when it comes to human rights.
10:54 pm August 14, 2013
COMMON SENSE wrote:
Oh, I forgot about the resolution by the California State Assembly.
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