http://www.geocities.jp/sybrma/21potsdamdeclaration.htm
資料21 Potsdam Declaration （ポツダム宣言＝英文）
Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender
Issued at Potsdam, July 26, 1945
(1) We—the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war.
(2) The prodigious land, sea and air forces of the United States, the British Empire and of China, many times reinforced by their armies and air fleets from the west, are poised to strike the final blows upon Japan. This military power is sustained and inspired by the determination of all the Allied Nations to prosecute the war against Japan until she ceases to resist.
(3) The result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the people of Japan. The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.
(4) The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self˗willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.
(5) Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
(6) There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest, for we insist that a new order of peace, security and justice will be impossible until irresponsible militarism is driven from the world.
(7) Until such a new order is established and until there is convincing proof that Japan’s war˗making power is destroyed, points in Japanese territory to be designated by the Allies shall be occupied to secure the achievement of the basic objectives we are here setting forth.
(8) The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine.
(9) The Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives.
(10) We do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners. The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people. Freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be established.
(11) Japan shall be permitted to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just reparations in kind, but not those which would enable her to re˗arm for war. To this end, access to, as distinguished from control of, raw materials shall be permitted. Eventual Japanese participation in world trade relations shall be permitted.
(12) The occupying forces of the Allies shall be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people a peacefully inclined and responsible government.
(13) We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.
http://www.geocities.jp/sybrma/19potsdamsengen.htm
（注）１．出典は、「Department of States Bulletin, ⅩⅢ（July 29, 1945）外務省特別資料課編
『日本占領及び管理重要文書集』第１巻、1949年８月10日」です。（『日米関係資料集1945
─97』東京大学出版会・1999年２月25日初版、1999年３月15日第２版から引用。）
なお、鹿島平和研究所編『日本外交主要文書・年表（１）』1941─1960（1983年２月15日
第１刷・原書房発行）とも照合しました。
２． ポツダム（Potsdam）は、ドイツ東部、ブランデンブルク州の州都。ベルリンの南西に位置
する。サンスーシ宮殿ほか多数の離宮・別荘は世界遺産。人口12万９千人（1999）。
（『広辞苑』第６版による。）
３． 日本語訳の『ポツダム宣言』が、資料19にあります。
資料19 ポツダム宣言（米、英、支三国宣言）
米、英、支三国宣言
（千九百四十五年七月二十六日「ポツダム」ニ於テ）
一 吾等合衆国大統領、中華民国政府主席及「グレート、ブリテン」国総理大臣ハ吾等
ノ数億ノ国民ヲ代表シ協議ノ上日本国ニ対シ今次ノ戦争ヲ終結スルノ機会ヲ与フルコ
トニ意見一致セリ
二 合衆国、英帝国及中華民国ノ巨大ナル陸、海、空軍ハ西方ヨリ自国ノ陸軍及空軍ニ
依ル数倍ノ増強ヲ受ケ日本国ニ対シ最後的打撃ヲ加フルノ態勢ヲ整ヘタリ右軍事力ハ
日本国ガ抵抗ヲ終止スルニ至ル迄同国ニ対シ戦争ヲ遂行スルノ一切ノ聨合国ノ決意ニ
依リ支持セラレ且鼓舞セラレ居ルモノナリ
三 蹶起セル世界ノ自由ナル人民ノ力ニ対スル「ドイツ」国ノ無益且無意義ナル抵抗ノ
結果ハ日本国国民ニ対スル先例ヲ極メテ明白ニ示スモノナリ現在日本国ニ対シ集結シ
ツツアル力ハ抵抗スル「ナチス」ニ対シ適用セラレタル場合ニ於テ全「ドイツ」国人
民ノ土地、産業及生活様式ヲ必然的ニ荒廃ニ帰セシメタル力ニ比シ測リ知レザル程更
ニ強大ナルモノナリ吾等ノ決意ニ支持セラルル吾等ノ軍事力ノ最高度ノ使用ハ日本国
軍隊ノ不可避且完全ナル壊滅ヲ意味スベク又同様必然的ニ日本国本土ノ完全ナル破壊
ヲ意味スベシ
四 無分別ナル打算ニ依リ日本帝国ヲ滅亡ノ淵ニ陥レタル我儘ナル軍国主義的助言者ニ
依リ日本国ガ引続キ統御セラルベキカ又ハ理性ノ経路ヲ日本国ガ履ムベキカヲ日本国
ガ決定スベキ時期ハ到来セリ
五 吾等ノ条件ハ左ノ如シ
吾等ハ右条件ヨリ離脱スルコトナカルベシ右ニ代ル条件存在セズ吾等ハ遅延ヲ認ムル
ヲ得ズ
六 吾等ハ無責任ナル軍国主義ガ世界ヨリ駆逐セラルルニ至ル迄ハ平和、安全及正義ノ
新秩序ガ生ジ得ザルコトヲ主張スルモノナルヲ以テ日本国国民ヲ欺瞞シ之ヲシテ世界
征服ノ挙ニ出ヅルノ過誤ヲ犯サシメタル者ノ権力及勢力ハ永久ニ除去セラレザルベカ
ラズ
七 右ノ如キ新秩序ガ建設セラレ且日本国ノ戦争遂行能力ガ破砕セラレタルコトノ確證
アルニ至ル迄ハ聨合国ノ指定スベキ日本国領域内ノ諸地点ハ吾等ノ茲ニ指示スル基本
的目的ノ達成ヲ確保スル為占領セラルベシ
八 「カイロ」宣言ノ条項ハ履行セラルベク又日本国ノ主権ハ本州、北海道、九州及四
国竝ニ吾等ノ決定スル諸小島ニ局限セラルベシ
九 日本国軍隊ハ完全ニ武装ヲ解除セラレタル後各自ノ家庭ニ復帰シ平和的且生産的ノ
生活ヲ営ムノ機会ヲ得シメラルベシ
十 吾等ハ日本人ヲ民族トシテ奴隷化セントシ又ハ国民トシテ滅亡セシメントスルノ意
図ヲ有スルモノニ非ザルモ吾等ノ俘虜ヲ虐待セル者ヲ含ム一切ノ戦争犯罪人ニ対シテ
ハ厳重ナル処罰加ヘラルベシ日本国政府ハ日本国国民ノ間ニ於ケル民主主義的傾向ノ
復活強化ニ対スル一切ノ障礙ヲ除去スベシ言論、宗教及思想ノ自由竝ニ基本的人権ノ
尊重ハ確立セラルベシ
十一 日本国ハ其ノ経済ヲ支持シ且公正ナル実物賠償ノ取立ヲ可能ナラシムルガ如キ産
業ヲ維持スルコトヲ許サルベシ但シ日本国ヲシテ戦争ノ為再軍備ヲ為スコトヲ得シム
ルガ如キ産業ハ此ノ限ニ在ラズ右目的ノ為原料ノ入手（其ノ支配トハ之ヲ区別ス）ヲ
許サルベシ日本国ハ将来世界貿易関係ヘノ参加ヲ許サルベシ
十二 前記諸目的ガ達成セラレ且日本国国民ノ自由ニ表明セル意思ニ従ヒ平和的傾向ヲ
有シ且責任アル政府ガ樹立セラルルニ於テハ聨合国ノ占領軍ハ直ニ日本国ヨリ撤收セ
ラルベシ
十三 吾等ハ日本国政府ガ直ニ全日本国軍隊ノ無条件降伏ヲ宣言シ且右行動ニ於ケル同
政府ノ誠意ニ付適当且充分ナル保障ヲ提供センコトヲ同政府ニ対シ要求ス
右以外ノ日本国ノ選択ハ迅速且完全ナル壊滅アルノミトス
（注） １．「ポツダム宣言」の本文は、外務省ホームページの中の「外交史料館」[外交記録
公開文書] 「A'・１・０・０・１第四巻」（タイプ印字）によりました。
２． 本文の漢字は、ほぼ常用漢字に改めました。
３. 本文の語句の異同について、その主なものを挙げておきます。
（１）上記「外交史料館」[外交記録公開文書]の「A'・１・０・０・１第三巻」の本文には、
「米、英、支三国宣言」の前に『「ポツダム」』とある。また、 「六」の「平和、安全
及正義」の読点がない。 「七」の「基本的目的」が、 「根本的目的」となっている。
更に「十」の「厳重ナル處罰加ヘラルベシ」に、「厳重ナル處罰ヲ加ヘラルベシ」と
「ヲ」が入っている。
（２）「米、英、支三国宣言」を、「米、英、華三国宣言」としてあるものが多い。
（３）本文「二」の「西方ヨリ」を、「西方ヨリノ」とする本文がある。
（４）本文「三」の「日本国国民」を、「日本国民」とする本文がある。
（５） 同じく「三」の、『全「ドイツ」国人民ノ土地、産業及生活様式ヲ必然的ニ荒廃ニ帰
セシメタル力ニ比シ測リ知レザル程更ニ強大ナルモノナリ。』の「測 リ知レザル程
更ニ強大ナルモノ」を、「測リ知レザル程度ニ強大ナルモノ」とする本文が見られる。
（６） 本文「四」の「日本国ガ決定スベキ時期」を、「日本国ガ決意スベキ時期」とする
本文がある。
（７）本文「八」の「本州、北海道、九州及四国竝ニ吾等ノ決定スル諸小島」の部分を、
「本州、北海道、九州、四国及吾等ノ決定スル諸小島」とする本文がある。
（８）本文「十」の「厳重ナル処罰加ヘラルベシ」を、「厳重ナル処罰ヲ加ヘラルベシ」と
「ヲ」を補った本文がある。（上の「A'・１・０・０・１第三巻」によったものか？）
（９）本文「十一」の「原料ノ入手（其ノ支配トハ之ヲ区別ス）ヲ許サルベシ」の「許サル
ベシ」は、タイプの本文では「許可サルベシ」と読めるのだが、前後の関係から、
「許サルベシ」としておいた。
（10）本文「十三」の「全日本国軍隊」を、「全日本軍隊」とする本文がある。
（11）同じく「十三」の「右以外ノ日本国ノ選択」を「右以外ノ選択」として、「日本国ノ」を
欠く本文がある。
＜これらの違いがいかなる理由によるものなのか、現在迄のところ調べがついていません。＞
４． 外務省編『終戦史録６』（北洋社・昭和53年７月22日第１刷発行）所収の本文との比較を、
次に示しておきます。
（１） 片仮名表記を、平仮名表記にしてある。
（２） 「二」の「西方ヨリ」が「西方よりの」となっている。
（３） 「三」の「測リ知レザル程更ニ」が「測り知れざる程度に」となっている。
（４） 「七」の「確證アルニ至ル迄ハ」が「確認あるに至るまでは」となっている。
（５） 同じく「七」の「基本的目的ノ達成ヲ確保スル為」の「為」が、「ため」と仮名書きになって
いる。
（６）「十」の「戦争犯罪人ニ対シテハ」の「ハ」が、ない。
（７） 同じく「十」の「厳重ナル処罰加ヘラルベシ」が「厳重なる処罰を加へらる
べし」と、「を」が入っている。
（８） 「十一」の「原料ノ入手（其ノ支配トハ之ヲ区別ス）ヲ許サルベシ」の「許サルベシ」が「許可
さるべし」となっている。
（９） 「十二」の「樹立セラルルニ」の部分に、「樹立せらるゝに」と踊り字が使ってある。
５．ホームページ『国立公文書館 アジア歴史資料センター』所収の、マイクロフィルムの映像
による「ポツダム宣言」との異同を、次に示しておきます。
（なお、上記の映像資料は、外務省外交史料館所蔵資料のうち、外務省創立以来終戦までの外交活動に
ともなう史料「外務省記録」によるものの由です。）
（１） 「米、英、支三国宣言」が「米、英、華三国宣言」となっている。
（２） 表題が「ポツダム宣言（米、英、華三国宣言）」となっている。
（３） （千九百四十五年七月二十六日「ポツダム」ニ於テ）の丸括弧が、ない。
上記の『国立公文書館 アジア歴史資料センター』の映像史料を見るには、
ＴＯＰページの「資料の閲覧」→「資料閲覧にあたっての遵守事項」＜読んで、「遵守する」を
クリック＞→「検索メニュー」＜「キーワード検索」をクリック＞ →「キーワード」＜「ポツダム宣
言（米英華三国宣言）」と入力して検索＞
６． 参考までに、（注） ３ の(4) 及び（６）に当たる Potsdam Declaration の英文を次に示し
ておきます。
３ の(4) The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than
that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to
the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people.
３ の(6) The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese
sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu,
Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine.
７．ポツダム（Ｐｏｔｓｄａｍ）は、ドイツ東部、ブランデンブルク州の州都。ベルリンの南西に位置する。
サンスーシ宮殿ほか多数の離宮・別荘は世界遺産。人口12万９千人（1999）。
（『広辞苑』第６版による。）
８．ポツダム宣言の英文（全文）は、資料21の「ポツダム宣言（英文）」をご覧ください。
９．資料57に「カイロ宣言」があります。
Saturday, January 2, 2016
China Shows Skepticism on Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ Apology WJS By CHUN HAN WONG
http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-shows-skepticism-on-japans-comfort-women-apology-1451386918
China Shows Skepticism on Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ Apology
Beijing reiterates call for Tokyo to make amends for wartime transgressions after Japan-South Korea deal
Portraits of victims are hung in the memorial for ''comfort women'' in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province on Dec. 1. ENLARGE
Portraits of victims are hung in the memorial for ''comfort women'' in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province on Dec. 1. PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
By CHUN HAN WONG
Updated Dec. 29, 2015 10:44 a.m. ET
BEIJING—South Korea and Japan’s move to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean wartime sex slaves drew a frosty response from China, where officials and citizens alike have long criticized Tokyo’s stance on its military transgressions during World War II.
China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday repeated its call for Japan to face up to its wartime history, while state media dismissed the deal as geopolitical puppetry by U.S. officials seeking to contain Beijing.
“During the Second World War, Japanese militarism forcefully recruited ‘comfort women’ across China,” said spokesman Lu Kang, using a common euphemism for the wartime sex slaves. “They have committed a grave crime. We urge the Japanese side to take seriously the concerns of the relevant parties and deal properly with the issue.”
Seoul and Tokyo reached an agreement over the issue on Monday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the use of Korean women in Japanese military brothels, some of whom were teenagers, and provided $8.3 million in government funds for a foundation to help the women. With this accord, both countries said they consider the issue “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
In China, many social-media users denounced Tokyo for what they saw as lack of contrition over similar historical wrongdoings on the mainland.
Japan and South Korea reached an accord as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the treatment of Korean women used as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers in World War II. The U.S. has welcomed it, but China has offered a frosty response. Photo: AP
“You can compensate South Korean comfort women, but when it comes to Chinese comfort women, you renege on your debts,” Chinese writer Liu Xinda wrote on his verified Weibo microblog. “They are all comfort women; on what grounds do you draw distinctions between them?”
The official comments echo China’s long-standing rhetoric against Japan, which intensified in 2012 over a territorial dispute between the two over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. That led to anti-Japanese demonstrations in a number of Chinese cities, including in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Japan has recently boosted military spending in part to bolster its readiness in the region.
Relations between the countries were further strained when Mr. Abe became prime minister in late 2012 and pushed for a more muscular regional stance. Mr. Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo—which honors Japan’s war dead—in late 2013, and subsequent visits by members of his cabinet, have also drawn angry responses from China.
But tensions have since eased slightly, as Chinese President Xi Jinping shifted focus on territorial disputes with other neighbors in the South China Sea and Mr. Abe has taken some conciliatory steps. The two met in April in Indonesia at a summit of Asian and African leaders.
Beijing and Tokyo have endured often-fractious ties since the end of World War II, during and before which Japan held large parts of the mainland in a brutal occupation. At the time, Japanese troops forced many Chinese women into sexual slavery, a practice that was replicated across other Japanese-occupied territories. China’s antagonism also stems from atrocities ranging from the 1937 Nanjing massacre to medical experiments conducted on Chinese prisoners by Japan’s notorious Unit 731.
RELATED
Japanese Businesses Pushed to End South Korea Dispute
Japan and Korea Have Long Disputed ‘Comfort Women’
China’s communist leaders have long relied on stoking nationalism to help shore up the party’s political legitimacy and further foreign-policy goals. Japan is the most regular target of such publicity campaigns, most recently in September, when Beijing held a grand military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Bilateral ties have shown signs of thawing over the past year, after a meeting between Messrs. Xi and Abe in late 2014 paved the way for further high-level interactions, said Akio Takahara, an expert on Chinese politics at Tokyo University.
Even so, Beijing has often dismissed Mr. Abe’s efforts to repair ties as insincere, citing his efforts to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution and strengthen its military.
Such skepticism surfaced again Tuesday, when Mr. Lu, the Chinese foreign-ministry spokesman, said, “We are looking forward to seeing whether the Japanese side will do what it has promised.”
Chinese state media also raised doubts about Tokyo’s sincerity and highlighted anger over the deal among some South Korean victims.
Photos: Japan, South Korea Reach Accord on ‘Comfort Women’
A look at the women, the protests and the memorials for them.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1.
Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul.
Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
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South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean ... In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. YONHAP NEWS/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1. LI XIANG/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul. KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11. JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
The official Xinhua News Agency questioned why Mr. Abe’s wife on Monday announced a recent visit to Yasukuni. “Taking into consideration the mixed nature of signals sent out by Tokyo in recent days, as well as Abe’s undeniable history of prevarication and obfuscation and habit for historical revisionism, people have good reason to remain doubtful,” it said in a Tuesday commentary.
In its midday news broadcast on Tuesday, official broadcaster China Central Television aired footage showing former Korean sex slaves protesting against the accord.
On Chinese social media, many users decried the accord as the fruit of cynical geopolitical maneuvering by Japan and the U.S. They say the deal helps Tokyo and Washington’s bid to use Seoul as a buffer against China’s rising clout in the Asia-Pacific.
“In the Japan-South Korea accord on comfort women, we can clearly see the shadows of the U.S. flitting in the background,” wrote a user on the Weibo microblogging service. U.S. officials have said they have encouraged closer ties between the two, and praised Monday’s deal as beneficial for regional peace and stability.
Scholars say Monday’s agreement suggests Seoul may be easing back from recent efforts to foster closer ties with Beijing.
“South Korea started to look to China because it wanted to rebuild its stagnant economy,” and gain leverage over North Korea through Beijing’s influence over Pyongyang, said Satoshi Amako, a China expert at Waseda University in Tokyo. Since then, “the Chinese economy started to slow down and it became unclear whether South Korea could benefit as much as it expected...[while] China’s relations with North Korean have been deteriorating.”
Global Times, a Chinese nationalistic tabloid run by the official Communist Party’s People’s Daily, dismissed the speculation that Monday’s accord would help Tokyo win diplomatic leverage against Beijing.
“Such analysis is not unreasonable, but exaggerates the strategic significance of the deal,” Global Times said in a Tuesday editorial. “South Korea is not a key factor in the Sino-Japanese relationship.”
“The comfort women deal doesn’t mean the South Korean society has endorsed the attitude of the Japanese government over history, and it in no way impairs the legitimacy of China’s demand for Japan to introspect on the history of aggression,” said the newspaper, which carried a similarly worded editorial in its Chinese-language edition.
— Felicia Sonmez in Beijing and Chieko Tsuneoka in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com
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There are 46 comments.
Newest
OldestReader Recommendedaugust rossy
august rossy 2 days ago
Sounds like China would like to keep Japan disarmed so they can continue their strategic island building without impediment.
Patrick Meegan
Patrick Meegan 2 days ago
Chinese commenters may have a point that beyond direct relations between South Korea and Japan, the recent agreement and apology serves to enhance unity regarding balancing regional power.
By the same token, the nationalistic utterances of some in China regarding events in the 1930-40s serve as attempts to prevent Japan's integration with other Pacific nations in such efforts at regional balance.
Japan was guilty. Japan lost the war and was militarily occupied. Japan has repeatedly apologized. Japan has been a peaceful nation since the war. South Korea took a no doubt painful step in accepting this agreement, but it was the mature thing to do. China is not at that same point of maturity.
Curtis Beck
Curtis Beck 3 days ago
I suppose Red Chinese soldiers never laid a hand on Korean women in 1950-53 either...
Ray Kung
Ray Kung 3 days ago
@Curtis Beck Which side of the Korea? North or South? I suppose you haven't been talking to the korean much.
China Shows Skepticism on Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ Apology
Beijing reiterates call for Tokyo to make amends for wartime transgressions after Japan-South Korea deal
Portraits of victims are hung in the memorial for ''comfort women'' in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province on Dec. 1. ENLARGE
Portraits of victims are hung in the memorial for ''comfort women'' in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province on Dec. 1. PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
By CHUN HAN WONG
Updated Dec. 29, 2015 10:44 a.m. ET
BEIJING—South Korea and Japan’s move to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean wartime sex slaves drew a frosty response from China, where officials and citizens alike have long criticized Tokyo’s stance on its military transgressions during World War II.
China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday repeated its call for Japan to face up to its wartime history, while state media dismissed the deal as geopolitical puppetry by U.S. officials seeking to contain Beijing.
“During the Second World War, Japanese militarism forcefully recruited ‘comfort women’ across China,” said spokesman Lu Kang, using a common euphemism for the wartime sex slaves. “They have committed a grave crime. We urge the Japanese side to take seriously the concerns of the relevant parties and deal properly with the issue.”
Seoul and Tokyo reached an agreement over the issue on Monday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the use of Korean women in Japanese military brothels, some of whom were teenagers, and provided $8.3 million in government funds for a foundation to help the women. With this accord, both countries said they consider the issue “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
In China, many social-media users denounced Tokyo for what they saw as lack of contrition over similar historical wrongdoings on the mainland.
Japan and South Korea reached an accord as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the treatment of Korean women used as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers in World War II. The U.S. has welcomed it, but China has offered a frosty response. Photo: AP
“You can compensate South Korean comfort women, but when it comes to Chinese comfort women, you renege on your debts,” Chinese writer Liu Xinda wrote on his verified Weibo microblog. “They are all comfort women; on what grounds do you draw distinctions between them?”
The official comments echo China’s long-standing rhetoric against Japan, which intensified in 2012 over a territorial dispute between the two over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. That led to anti-Japanese demonstrations in a number of Chinese cities, including in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Japan has recently boosted military spending in part to bolster its readiness in the region.
Relations between the countries were further strained when Mr. Abe became prime minister in late 2012 and pushed for a more muscular regional stance. Mr. Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo—which honors Japan’s war dead—in late 2013, and subsequent visits by members of his cabinet, have also drawn angry responses from China.
But tensions have since eased slightly, as Chinese President Xi Jinping shifted focus on territorial disputes with other neighbors in the South China Sea and Mr. Abe has taken some conciliatory steps. The two met in April in Indonesia at a summit of Asian and African leaders.
Beijing and Tokyo have endured often-fractious ties since the end of World War II, during and before which Japan held large parts of the mainland in a brutal occupation. At the time, Japanese troops forced many Chinese women into sexual slavery, a practice that was replicated across other Japanese-occupied territories. China’s antagonism also stems from atrocities ranging from the 1937 Nanjing massacre to medical experiments conducted on Chinese prisoners by Japan’s notorious Unit 731.
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China’s communist leaders have long relied on stoking nationalism to help shore up the party’s political legitimacy and further foreign-policy goals. Japan is the most regular target of such publicity campaigns, most recently in September, when Beijing held a grand military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Bilateral ties have shown signs of thawing over the past year, after a meeting between Messrs. Xi and Abe in late 2014 paved the way for further high-level interactions, said Akio Takahara, an expert on Chinese politics at Tokyo University.
Even so, Beijing has often dismissed Mr. Abe’s efforts to repair ties as insincere, citing his efforts to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution and strengthen its military.
Such skepticism surfaced again Tuesday, when Mr. Lu, the Chinese foreign-ministry spokesman, said, “We are looking forward to seeing whether the Japanese side will do what it has promised.”
Chinese state media also raised doubts about Tokyo’s sincerity and highlighted anger over the deal among some South Korean victims.
Photos: Japan, South Korea Reach Accord on ‘Comfort Women’
A look at the women, the protests and the memorials for them.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1.
Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul.
Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
PreviousNext
1 of 6 fullscreen
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean ... In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. YONHAP NEWS/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1. LI XIANG/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul. KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11. JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
The official Xinhua News Agency questioned why Mr. Abe’s wife on Monday announced a recent visit to Yasukuni. “Taking into consideration the mixed nature of signals sent out by Tokyo in recent days, as well as Abe’s undeniable history of prevarication and obfuscation and habit for historical revisionism, people have good reason to remain doubtful,” it said in a Tuesday commentary.
In its midday news broadcast on Tuesday, official broadcaster China Central Television aired footage showing former Korean sex slaves protesting against the accord.
On Chinese social media, many users decried the accord as the fruit of cynical geopolitical maneuvering by Japan and the U.S. They say the deal helps Tokyo and Washington’s bid to use Seoul as a buffer against China’s rising clout in the Asia-Pacific.
“In the Japan-South Korea accord on comfort women, we can clearly see the shadows of the U.S. flitting in the background,” wrote a user on the Weibo microblogging service. U.S. officials have said they have encouraged closer ties between the two, and praised Monday’s deal as beneficial for regional peace and stability.
Scholars say Monday’s agreement suggests Seoul may be easing back from recent efforts to foster closer ties with Beijing.
“South Korea started to look to China because it wanted to rebuild its stagnant economy,” and gain leverage over North Korea through Beijing’s influence over Pyongyang, said Satoshi Amako, a China expert at Waseda University in Tokyo. Since then, “the Chinese economy started to slow down and it became unclear whether South Korea could benefit as much as it expected...[while] China’s relations with North Korean have been deteriorating.”
Global Times, a Chinese nationalistic tabloid run by the official Communist Party’s People’s Daily, dismissed the speculation that Monday’s accord would help Tokyo win diplomatic leverage against Beijing.
“Such analysis is not unreasonable, but exaggerates the strategic significance of the deal,” Global Times said in a Tuesday editorial. “South Korea is not a key factor in the Sino-Japanese relationship.”
“The comfort women deal doesn’t mean the South Korean society has endorsed the attitude of the Japanese government over history, and it in no way impairs the legitimacy of China’s demand for Japan to introspect on the history of aggression,” said the newspaper, which carried a similarly worded editorial in its Chinese-language edition.
— Felicia Sonmez in Beijing and Chieko Tsuneoka in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com
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There are 46 comments.
Newest
OldestReader Recommendedaugust rossy
august rossy 2 days ago
Sounds like China would like to keep Japan disarmed so they can continue their strategic island building without impediment.
Patrick Meegan
Patrick Meegan 2 days ago
Chinese commenters may have a point that beyond direct relations between South Korea and Japan, the recent agreement and apology serves to enhance unity regarding balancing regional power.
By the same token, the nationalistic utterances of some in China regarding events in the 1930-40s serve as attempts to prevent Japan's integration with other Pacific nations in such efforts at regional balance.
Japan was guilty. Japan lost the war and was militarily occupied. Japan has repeatedly apologized. Japan has been a peaceful nation since the war. South Korea took a no doubt painful step in accepting this agreement, but it was the mature thing to do. China is not at that same point of maturity.
Curtis Beck
Curtis Beck 3 days ago
I suppose Red Chinese soldiers never laid a hand on Korean women in 1950-53 either...
Ray Kung
Ray Kung 3 days ago
@Curtis Beck Which side of the Korea? North or South? I suppose you haven't been talking to the korean much.
Japan, South Korea Agree to Aid for ‘Comfort Women’ WSJ y KWANWOO JUN in Seoul and ALEXANDER MARTIN in Tokyo
Japan, South Korea Agree to Aid for ‘Comfort Women’
Deal will include support services using Japanese government funds
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. ENLARGE
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. PHOTO: JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By KWANWOO JUN in Seoul and ALEXANDER MARTIN in Tokyo
Updated Dec. 28, 2015 1:45 p.m. ET
84 COMMENTS
South Korea and Japan reached an agreement that aims to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean women who were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War II, a festering wound that has inflamed tensions between the U.S.’s two most important allies in Asia.
Under the accord, Japan will supply ¥1 billion ($8.3 million) in government funds to support the so-called comfort women. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also apologized for the women’s treatment, something he had been reluctant to do previously.
The wartime issue has long strained ties between the two neighbors and caused concern in Washington. “We must not let this problem drag on into the next generation,” Mr. Abe said in Tokyo after the agreement was announced in Seoul.
The U.S., which sees better relations between the two countries as key to checking China in the region, welcomed the deal. “We applaud the leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea for having the courage and vision to reach this agreement, and we call on the international community to support it,” said Secretary of State John Kerry.
The agreement involved concessions by both sides. Japan has previously maintained that all issues of compensation to South Koreans for the war were resolved when it restored diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1965. In the current deal it edged away from that position by agreeing to fund a South Korean foundation to aid the women forced into servitude, while also insisting the money didn’t represent direct compensation for wrongdoing.
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Young South Korean students are learning about the Japanese military’s use of “comfort women,” or forced prostitutes, in the 1930s and 1940s. Photo: Reuters
By apologizing, Mr. Abe also went further than his government has previously. The prime minister made a direct apology, expressed both in a statement by his foreign minister and in a telephone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
“Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women,” the statement said.
The statement also acknowledged Japanese government involvement in the comfort women program, a point Mr. Abe and conservatives in his ruling party have frequently questioned.
Still, some in Korea called Mr. Abe’s statement inadequate. The Korean Council for Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery, which represents some former sex slaves, said the agreement didn’t make clear enough that the recruitment of the women “was a crime done by the Japanese government and military systematically.” It said Japan should directly compensate the women instead of creating a fund to do so.
The council also objected to Seoul’s promise that it would consider removing a statue of a girl in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul that commemorates the women’s suffering. Tokyo has called the statue an affront.
The group called the deal “humiliating” and said Seoul “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement].” Some comfort women told Korean media they would accept the compromise.
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Japan and Korea Have Long Disputed ‘Comfort Women’
Full Text: Japan-South Korea Statement on ‘Comfort Women’
Ms. Park and Mr. Abe spoke by phone for about 15 minutes after the deal. Ms. Park said she hoped the accord would turn into “a precious opportunity to restore the honor and dignity of the victims” and “build trust to bring in a new relationship” between the two countries.
Mr. Abe took office in December 2012 and Ms. Park two months later. Since then, the two sides have engaged in almost continuous squabbling on the international stage, devoting considerable diplomatic effort to seemingly minor battles such as whether textbooks in the state of Virginia should refer to the body of water between them as the Sea of Japan or the East Sea.
Monday’s deal includes a promise by both sides to stop criticizing each other in such forums and says the comfort-women issue has been “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
The agreement represents a relief for U.S. diplomats who have wrung their hands over the dispute between the two U.S. allies. President Barack Obama brought Ms. Park and Mr. Abe together for a three-way meeting in Europe in March 2014, but the two Asian leaders barely looked at other.
The State Department’s top official for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said in May that “tension between those two friends constitutes a strategic liability to all of us”—one of many occasions, both public and private, in which U.S. diplomats urged Japan and South Korea to reach an agreement like the one announced Monday.
Photos: Japan, South Korea Reach Accord on ‘Comfort Women’
A look at the women, the protests and the memorials for them.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1.
Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul.
Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
PreviousNext
6 of 6 fullscreen
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss ... Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
The U.S. wasn’t a formal party to the talks, although Mr. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Kerry and other senior officials advised and supported both sides in reaching agreement in bilateral and trilateral meetings. “We’ve worked quietly, where possible, to prevent or resolve misunderstandings between the two,” a senior State Department official said.
The official said the U.S. sees the accord as being “as strategically consequential” as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal agreement reached in October, adding it would promote “a stable, prosperous and happy East Asia.”
The U.S. and Mr. Abe both want to form a stronger front against China, which has territorial ambitions in the region and has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claims in the South China Sea. Ms. Park has shown more sympathy to Beijing, appearing with Chinese President Xi Jinping at events denouncing Japan’s view of history.
The first major sign of progress came in November, when Mr. Abe and Ms. Park met in Seoul and agreed to seek an early resolution. Both sides had hoped for a deal in 2015, the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties.
Concern about business ties may have helped prompt Monday’s reconciliation. Between 2012 and 2014, two-way trade fell 17% and the number of Japanese travelers to Korea dropped 35%.
“Japanese companies have become reluctant to talk about their business in South Korea,” said Hidehiko Mukoyama, an analyst at Japan Research Institute. “They want to locate where they can operate most efficiently. But the disputes have made it difficult to do so.”
There are 46 elderly Korean “comfort women” known to be alive. No reliable records are known to exist on how many women were involved, but mainstream historians’ estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000. Former comfort women have consistently said females as young as teenagers were coerced or tricked into joining brothels serving Japanese soldiers.
The agreement marks a significant step, but it is too early to assess its impact, said Robert Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan National University in South Korea.
“Historical grievances, particularly over the comfort women, are deeply ingrained in South Korea,” he said. “There will be a lot of people who won’t accept the deal.”
Disputes over other legacies of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula also hamper ties, including ongoing legal action by Koreans used as forced laborers by Tokyo, as well as descriptions in school textbooks in both countries of the colonial period, which ended in 1945.
Elements of Monday’s deal echo Japanese actions two decades ago. In 1993, Japan issued a statement extending its “sincere apologies and remorse” to the women, and later in the decade it established a fund to help the women. However, that fund used private donations.
—Felicia Schwartz in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com and Alexander Martin at alexander.martin@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
A council representing some former sex slaves said the Korean government “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement]” with Japan. Earlier versions of this story incorrectly quoted the council as saying Korea gave a peck and got a bushel. There are four pecks in a bushel. (Dec. 28, 2015)
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Sign In to comment
There are 84 comments.
Newest
OldestReader RecommendedLarry Chang
Larry Chang 2 days ago
Kuchita's argument about South China Seas territorial claims is half truth/half false one. It is not just historical issue, it is a continuous sovereignty act all along. For example, right after the War China measured and mapped the area and established a post on one of those islands to maintain its claim under KMT administration.
If we go along with Kuchta's logic, then Israel should have returned all its territories to Palestinians since the latter took over the land 2,000 years ago.
Now it is time to overhaul international rules on a fair and justice way, not based on unilateral Western colonial and biased so called philosophy. And Americans should respect other peoples rights and sphere of influence, otherwise there will be no end of killings and wars. The era of America hegemony is over.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
It took Japan 75 years to agree to compensate the Korean women that they terribly treated during WWII. That it took so long for the Japanese admit that they did this, apologize, and compensate the victims speaks very negatively on the Japanese culture.
JEFFREY DUGAS
JEFFREY DUGAS 3 days ago
Imperial Japan does not exist, and has not existed since the end of WWII. Virtually all of the former leaders of the defunct empire are long dead. The perpetrator of said crimes no longer exists. There should be no compensation. If you disagree, I'm sure we can dig up some crime that your great great grandfather perpetrated, and demand a fine from you via taxation. Time to live in the present.
David Corwin
David Corwin 4 days ago
Wow, a wopping $8M for 200,000 victims! The comes out to $40 a person. Is it the going rate for street walker in Japan nowadays? What do the Japanese think they are dealing with here?!
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@David Corwin Actually, the ca. $8M is for the 46 surviving women. In that regard, it is a nontrivial sum.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta would you take the deal if you were one of the 46 survivors who had to go through those horrible things and live with it for over 70 years?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Yes, I absolutely would take the money. Horrible things happen in war, but it is time to put the past to bed. I am a firm believer that if you keep living in the past you have no future.
The past should be used to prepare for the future, not to dictate the future (or even the present).
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta the money is not the issue here, the real issue is the sincerity of the Japanese government. If you can't face the history, can't correct the past mistakes, there is no future what so ever.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta I agree with you latter statement completely. My own view, is that most Japanese (but certainly not some fanatical nationalists in Japan) have faced the past and learned from it. Currently, Japan is very far removed from the militarist past and is a well functioning democracy.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I know we are moving far away from the original discussion by starting this philosophical debate, but I have a question. How is it the past does not dictate the present or future?
Again, I know this is very off-base from the purpose of the article, but your comment here sparked my curiosity. Have a safe and happy new year, Mr. Kuchta.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I guess what always bothers me about this issue is how some individuals, and countries, will use events that occurred long, long ago (but not necessarily far, far away!) to dictate their current lives or policies. Examples include: (1) China's claim to all of the South China Sea based on ancient history; (2) Some friends who can't stand Germany or Germans because of what the Nazi's did in WW2, even though there are virtually no Nazi's left alive and todays Germans are several generations removed from the Nazi's; (3) The continuing instability in the Balkan states that, near as I can tell, is based on wars fought 100+ years ago. (4) Many aspects of "victimology" i.e., the feeling of some people that "I am not doing well because of what was done to my parents/grandparents/great grandparents/etc."
We should learn from these actions of the past, not let them cloud our current judgement.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta I think the examples you listed here are not relevant to the issue we were discussing. I am a Chinese, and I personal do not totally agree with what China is doing near the South China Sea. But the WWII it's not a dispute, and the damage is much worse than some countries fighting over some fishing territory. Also, I'm sure there are some people are still hateful but majority of the world has no problems with the Germans as they've sincerely faced the history and the mistakes they've made in the past. I personally have no issues against Japanese citizens either, I have plenty Japanese friends myself. My issue is with the Japanese gov, who has never officially apologize for the crimes of WW2 or punished the war criminals who killed millions of innocent people. Instead, they warship the killers in a temple and the their leaders go to honor them after taking over office. That's what I, and a lot of other Asian people, have always had issues with
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta
Nor has China apologized for their atrocities against American and allied prisoners of war in the Korean conflict. As you can see, very few are totally innocent in war.
Can we all move along now?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Nevin Taylor @Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Great post! The last 6 words of your post summarize my view on this perfectly.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta The war shrine in Japan is a tricky issue. Nominally, it is a memorial to all of the soldiers who died in WW2. However, that necessarily includes some of the leaders who started the war and/or committed various atrocities as well as the low level Japanese soldiers sent to their deaths by these very same leaders. Thus, I don't think that there is a clear right or wrong answer to a generic memorial.
My including the South China Sea issue is the problem of countries making any sort of claim based on ancient history. Just as China today is claiming the South China Sea based on certain dates in history, other countries could probably make the same claim based on other dates. Given the history of how often countries have started wars for economic reasons, this seems like a recipe for war given the economic value of the South China Sea.
Hans Vincent
Hans Vincent 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang
Robert that is true. But will Japan also give up it's claims on a lot of islands it claims/occupied based on it's supposed historical data?will Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines? This is the Dilemma. While the West tends to demonize China, all their accusations on China are very much applicable on itself and a lot of nations including its allies in Asia and in the western hemisphere. Michael Phelps can easily swim from the coast of Taiwan to the island of Diaoyu yet the U.S just lets Japan occupy it despite Taiwan also being an "ally". The only way one can say with authority that these islands should be owned by no one is to apply it to all which will not happen just as the U.S will not leave its bases around Cuba.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Andrew Poplaski Thank you for your response, Mr. Kuchta. After reading your examples, I understand the context of your previous statement. I wish you a healthy new year.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta And to you as well!
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @David Corwin They Japanese should have compensated the surviving victims 70 years ago when more of them were alive.
Adrian Davis
Adrian Davis 4 days ago
Hopefully, we (the U.S.) won't get a guilty conscious and start ponying up for our wrong doings throughout history. We would have hell to pay and I am all out of saying sorry for our ancestors. A higher power has to deal with them.
John Shniper
John Shniper 4 days ago
Way too little, way too late! Japan's arrogance about its Mass Atrocities in WWII which took as many lives as Nazi Germany's continues. The real loser is Japan's stature in the world.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@John Shniper The Germans have made a much greater effort to apologize and compensate their victims. That the Japanese have stonewalled this issue for 70 years speaks poorly of their culture.
TED CHYN
TED CHYN 4 days ago
The dislike between Korea and Japan are historical brought about by many invasions perpetrated by Japanese government notably the invasion by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1592 and many encroachments and intrusions by Japanese pirates. The Japanese aggression led to the eventual colonization of Korea in the late 20th century.Under the occupation, the Japanese had not only subjugated the Korean nationhood but also suppressed the usage of Korea language and forced the Korean to change their Korean household sir name. All these historical enmities with the lighting-rod issue of comfort women are settled by a paltry sum of 8 million after years of political haggling make one wonder there are bigger stories behind the two ministers shaking hand on stage.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
Where did the USA troops in the Pacific get their comfort women?
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins
James,
I suggest you watch the HBO miniseries "The Pacific". At the beginning of each episode there is a short interview with the men who served there. I'm sure if you ask one of them that question they would punch you in the face.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information. Years ago, perhaps 60 or so I had read about the "aid" stations set up for USA forces....was it true ? One doesn't look for violence in a free society when asking a serious question.
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
Yes, far better than violence is to make insinuation against men who can't defend themselves against your baseless and deliberately incendiary conjecture.
What's it like working for Al Jazeera by the way?
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon Would volunteer "aid" stations be wrong? Why a defense?
Katie Goldstein
Katie Goldstein 4 days ago
My grandfather was a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps on the island of Tinian from 1944 through the end of the war and served under General Curtis LeMay. While he said there were no women, I can assure you he realized much comfort from serving in support of the missions carried out by the Enola Gay and Bocks Car.
Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @James Ewins @Timothy Boucher Actually, if you read the dozens of books written by US veterans of all branches, but particularly the Marines, you'll read that they fought in places with small or no indigenous populations. What happened time after time was that Marines would invade a Japanese held island, the Japanese would be wiped out and the Marines would be left on the island afterward while the high command arranged for bringing in new recruits, replacing lost/destroyed equipment, etc. for the next campaign/battle. One, but not the only, example of excellent first hand accounts is Eugene B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa." He actually expends considerable ink in the book discussing how the isolation on sparsely populated islands after fierce battles with the Japanese affected young Marines' morale and their attitudes toward the war and the Japanese in general.
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
"Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information."
Did you miss the part about the interviews with the veterans who were actually there? Anyhow, not sure if you were (hopefully) joking or not, but those guys went through hell for an honorable cause. Your "question" was offensive.
Eric Mao
Eric Mao 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher @James Ewins Timothy, in my view James's is a serious question that Americans don't want to touch. Let's not pretend American young men didn't have needs. Further, exactly because they were going through hell and any moment could be their last, the needs might become even more urgent. Both American and Japanese soldiers went through hell in the Pacific, and, on the battlefield, you fight for your buddies on your left and right, regardless whether your nation is at war for an honorable cause. It would bring me comfort if I learned American troops had a way to relieve their sexual pressure during the Pacific War.
Anthony Aaron
Anthony Aaron 4 days ago
@James Ewins
As a Marine who became a POW in a Japanese camp for more than 2 1/2 years, my uncle had no comfort of any kind during that time - let alone women.
The same with my great-grandfather who was a POW in Siberia for 12 years after he was captured during WW1 - no comfort there, either.
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins Philippines and they continue to do so as we speak!!
Jacob Mathews
Jacob Mathews 4 days ago
At least now the Japanese agreed to compensate these women in distress.
Hope the healing will take place after all the cruelty of World War Two
Let Korea and Japan could come to a better relationship after this settlement,but the scars will be there till death for these women.
Bill Fotsch
Bill Fotsch 4 days ago
$8million dollars for 20,000 to 200,000 women forced into prostitution? This would be a settlement for 1 woman in the US with a decent attorney. This was clearly an agreement that enables both governments to save face, having nothing to do with restitution for the woman involved. Given the time that has past, it seems to be a good effort to put this behind both companies. The important thing it seems to lack is a formal, public apology by the Japanese government.
Dongwoo Park
Dongwoo Park 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch This is exactly how most of Koreans think
Robert Cochran
Robert Cochran 4 days ago
My guess is that the settlement is for the 46 remaining alive.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer have each probably paid $8MM to hookers in their lifetimes (so far) and associated legal fees. Come to think of it, lawyers are pretty much legal prostitutes.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch
Oh sure. As if prostitutes don't have a bad enough reputation already, now your associating them with lawyers.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Chuck Roehrich @Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch Touche'
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch there is plenty of guilt to go around in WWII...on all sides.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch But not in equal amounts.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@David Jensen Historians tend not to be good at numbers...or being objective. Remember FDR set up the Japanese by embargoing oil.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen At the time FDR declared the embargo, the Japanese army had been killing the Chinese for years and had just invaded Indochina in an effort to stop the flow of supplies to the Chinese army.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-freezes-japanese-assets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Manchuria
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
You don't read much do you??
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
Not only WWII...
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch True but it depends who the victims are! In Iraq, families were compensated $1500 for loved ones killed by US soldiers and Libya paid $10 million for each victim of Pan Am 103!! It is all relative. And now Iran will compensate Americans for captivity in Tehran in 1979!!!!
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch
While I agree with your assessment, I don't know the monetary value to be placed on innocence, or dignity. Also, who collects? The victims have for the most part "gone above". Should the money go to their heirs? Why? What did they suffer? It seems to me the situation has devolved into recognition, and symbolic contrition. Given the circumstances, that will have to be enough.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @Bill Fotsch Why do we build memorials for the victims of holocaust and relive the most excruciating moments again and again - no monetary compensation is enough to teach the generations that have not faced the evil as those who have. If there is any remorse and truly feel the guilt from the perpetrators they should be the ones to lead the effort to memorialize the crimes committed against these women in the first place. Germany champions as its leadership stands to criticize Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for moving the blame away from Hitler and incorrectly placing it to the Palestinian grand Mufti for holocaust.
Mark Alan Harris
Mark Alan Harris 4 days ago
Well, the WWII ended 70 years ago. All of these women would have to be in their 80s or 90s. Is the money going to them or their families? To paraphrase a current candidate for President, "what difference does it make?"
The time for reparations to these women is long past. This should have been cleaned-up as part of the surrender treaty or during the years immediately following while the U.S. had great influence over Japan.
This is another sad paragraph in the chapter of human cruelty.
Winnie Holden
Winnie Holden 4 days ago
@Mark Alan Harris and it's so sad these women have to spend the past 70 years living in the shadow of these horrible memories....
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
For the 20 years following the surrender, Japan couldn't take care of its own veterans or their families. I remember seeing these men wearing bleached white uniforms, singing and playing musical instruments at the entrances to shrines in various cities. They had to beg for donations.
Elderly parents and grandparents who had lost their sons in the war were warehoused in "orphanages" with next to nothing to survive on. My dad's Tokyo Masonic lodge, made up of mostly WW II veterans, adopted one of these orphanages, providing groceries and charcoal bought at the Army Commissary and PX.
Rosemary Abbott
Rosemary Abbott 4 days ago
@Eric Davis
This is PC on steroids. Oh boo-hoo for your poor WWII Japanese former soldiers...they sure didn't bring pain to anyone during the war. Did they.
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
@Rosemary Abbott @Eric Davis
Sorry you were offended, Rosemary.
My intent was to show the war's horrors lasted for decades afterward.
Alexis Hatch
Alexis Hatch 4 days ago
How can $8 mil after 70 years be anything but an insult. Really??? Either offer no money (but make a deep and humbling public apology) or make it a real number.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Alexis Hatch If there is any lessons to be learned from the atrocities of war inflicted on humanity we are leaving a legacy of mockery on humanity for the future generations to come. After allowing virtually all war criminals to go unpunished because the emperor Hirohito had to be saved under Douglas MacArthur's decree, the burden of unpaid injustice had to be born by the generations of innocent many.
john boeger
john boeger 4 days ago
@ISAAC KIM @Alexis Hatch i think that our president truman made that decision.
Douglas Fox
Douglas Fox 4 days ago
It never ceases to amaze me about the injustices that are committed by men in this world. The resolution of this has taken 70 years. The Chinese women were also abused by the Japanese and who knows or has reported on the atrocities committed by Hussein to his Iraqi people
D Dykes
D Dykes 4 days ago
Sad what humans will do to each other. Truly a broken world.
Nate Smith
Nate Smith 4 days ago
Now that they are dead or 90 ,great timing .
RONALD WONG
RONALD WONG 4 days ago
At least 40 years too late.
Don Brazier
Don Brazier 4 days ago
>>>Observers say the two were under mounting pressure to come to a resolution from Washington<<<
If they did it because the US was twisting their arms you can question the sincerity of the two countries.
Deal will include support services using Japanese government funds
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. ENLARGE
Protesters sit next to a statue of a South Korean teenage girl in traditional costume, called the “peace monument” for former “comfort women,” during a demonstration near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015. PHOTO: JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By KWANWOO JUN in Seoul and ALEXANDER MARTIN in Tokyo
Updated Dec. 28, 2015 1:45 p.m. ET
84 COMMENTS
South Korea and Japan reached an agreement that aims to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean women who were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers during World War II, a festering wound that has inflamed tensions between the U.S.’s two most important allies in Asia.
Under the accord, Japan will supply ¥1 billion ($8.3 million) in government funds to support the so-called comfort women. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also apologized for the women’s treatment, something he had been reluctant to do previously.
The wartime issue has long strained ties between the two neighbors and caused concern in Washington. “We must not let this problem drag on into the next generation,” Mr. Abe said in Tokyo after the agreement was announced in Seoul.
The U.S., which sees better relations between the two countries as key to checking China in the region, welcomed the deal. “We applaud the leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea for having the courage and vision to reach this agreement, and we call on the international community to support it,” said Secretary of State John Kerry.
The agreement involved concessions by both sides. Japan has previously maintained that all issues of compensation to South Koreans for the war were resolved when it restored diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1965. In the current deal it edged away from that position by agreeing to fund a South Korean foundation to aid the women forced into servitude, while also insisting the money didn’t represent direct compensation for wrongdoing.
Related Video
Young South Korean students are learning about the Japanese military’s use of “comfort women,” or forced prostitutes, in the 1930s and 1940s. Photo: Reuters
By apologizing, Mr. Abe also went further than his government has previously. The prime minister made a direct apology, expressed both in a statement by his foreign minister and in a telephone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
“Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women,” the statement said.
The statement also acknowledged Japanese government involvement in the comfort women program, a point Mr. Abe and conservatives in his ruling party have frequently questioned.
Still, some in Korea called Mr. Abe’s statement inadequate. The Korean Council for Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery, which represents some former sex slaves, said the agreement didn’t make clear enough that the recruitment of the women “was a crime done by the Japanese government and military systematically.” It said Japan should directly compensate the women instead of creating a fund to do so.
The council also objected to Seoul’s promise that it would consider removing a statue of a girl in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul that commemorates the women’s suffering. Tokyo has called the statue an affront.
The group called the deal “humiliating” and said Seoul “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement].” Some comfort women told Korean media they would accept the compromise.
RELATED COVERAGE
Japan and Korea Have Long Disputed ‘Comfort Women’
Full Text: Japan-South Korea Statement on ‘Comfort Women’
Ms. Park and Mr. Abe spoke by phone for about 15 minutes after the deal. Ms. Park said she hoped the accord would turn into “a precious opportunity to restore the honor and dignity of the victims” and “build trust to bring in a new relationship” between the two countries.
Mr. Abe took office in December 2012 and Ms. Park two months later. Since then, the two sides have engaged in almost continuous squabbling on the international stage, devoting considerable diplomatic effort to seemingly minor battles such as whether textbooks in the state of Virginia should refer to the body of water between them as the Sea of Japan or the East Sea.
Monday’s deal includes a promise by both sides to stop criticizing each other in such forums and says the comfort-women issue has been “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
The agreement represents a relief for U.S. diplomats who have wrung their hands over the dispute between the two U.S. allies. President Barack Obama brought Ms. Park and Mr. Abe together for a three-way meeting in Europe in March 2014, but the two Asian leaders barely looked at other.
The State Department’s top official for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said in May that “tension between those two friends constitutes a strategic liability to all of us”—one of many occasions, both public and private, in which U.S. diplomats urged Japan and South Korea to reach an agreement like the one announced Monday.
Photos: Japan, South Korea Reach Accord on ‘Comfort Women’
A look at the women, the protests and the memorials for them.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
In January 1992, victims of Japanese sexual enslavement and civic groups held what turned into a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
The opening ceremony of the memorial for comfort women was held in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 1.
Flowers on a memorial wall commemorating former South and North Korean comfort women at the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul.
Protestors at the statue of a South Korean teenage girl called the "peace monument" during the weekly demonstration near the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Nov. 11.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement.
Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims.
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South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss the agreement. GETTY IMAGES South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Seoul on Monday to discuss ... Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken by the Japanese to work as 'comfort girls' for the troops photographed in 1945. South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday announced an agreement to resolve the issue of ‘comfort women,’ including an apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a support fund for the victims. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
The U.S. wasn’t a formal party to the talks, although Mr. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Kerry and other senior officials advised and supported both sides in reaching agreement in bilateral and trilateral meetings. “We’ve worked quietly, where possible, to prevent or resolve misunderstandings between the two,” a senior State Department official said.
The official said the U.S. sees the accord as being “as strategically consequential” as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal agreement reached in October, adding it would promote “a stable, prosperous and happy East Asia.”
The U.S. and Mr. Abe both want to form a stronger front against China, which has territorial ambitions in the region and has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claims in the South China Sea. Ms. Park has shown more sympathy to Beijing, appearing with Chinese President Xi Jinping at events denouncing Japan’s view of history.
The first major sign of progress came in November, when Mr. Abe and Ms. Park met in Seoul and agreed to seek an early resolution. Both sides had hoped for a deal in 2015, the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties.
Concern about business ties may have helped prompt Monday’s reconciliation. Between 2012 and 2014, two-way trade fell 17% and the number of Japanese travelers to Korea dropped 35%.
“Japanese companies have become reluctant to talk about their business in South Korea,” said Hidehiko Mukoyama, an analyst at Japan Research Institute. “They want to locate where they can operate most efficiently. But the disputes have made it difficult to do so.”
There are 46 elderly Korean “comfort women” known to be alive. No reliable records are known to exist on how many women were involved, but mainstream historians’ estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000. Former comfort women have consistently said females as young as teenagers were coerced or tricked into joining brothels serving Japanese soldiers.
The agreement marks a significant step, but it is too early to assess its impact, said Robert Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan National University in South Korea.
“Historical grievances, particularly over the comfort women, are deeply ingrained in South Korea,” he said. “There will be a lot of people who won’t accept the deal.”
Disputes over other legacies of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula also hamper ties, including ongoing legal action by Koreans used as forced laborers by Tokyo, as well as descriptions in school textbooks in both countries of the colonial period, which ended in 1945.
Elements of Monday’s deal echo Japanese actions two decades ago. In 1993, Japan issued a statement extending its “sincere apologies and remorse” to the women, and later in the decade it established a fund to help the women. However, that fund used private donations.
—Felicia Schwartz in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com and Alexander Martin at alexander.martin@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
A council representing some former sex slaves said the Korean government “gave a bushel and only got a peck [of returns in the agreement]” with Japan. Earlier versions of this story incorrectly quoted the council as saying Korea gave a peck and got a bushel. There are four pecks in a bushel. (Dec. 28, 2015)
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There are 84 comments.
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OldestReader RecommendedLarry Chang
Larry Chang 2 days ago
Kuchita's argument about South China Seas territorial claims is half truth/half false one. It is not just historical issue, it is a continuous sovereignty act all along. For example, right after the War China measured and mapped the area and established a post on one of those islands to maintain its claim under KMT administration.
If we go along with Kuchta's logic, then Israel should have returned all its territories to Palestinians since the latter took over the land 2,000 years ago.
Now it is time to overhaul international rules on a fair and justice way, not based on unilateral Western colonial and biased so called philosophy. And Americans should respect other peoples rights and sphere of influence, otherwise there will be no end of killings and wars. The era of America hegemony is over.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
It took Japan 75 years to agree to compensate the Korean women that they terribly treated during WWII. That it took so long for the Japanese admit that they did this, apologize, and compensate the victims speaks very negatively on the Japanese culture.
JEFFREY DUGAS
JEFFREY DUGAS 3 days ago
Imperial Japan does not exist, and has not existed since the end of WWII. Virtually all of the former leaders of the defunct empire are long dead. The perpetrator of said crimes no longer exists. There should be no compensation. If you disagree, I'm sure we can dig up some crime that your great great grandfather perpetrated, and demand a fine from you via taxation. Time to live in the present.
David Corwin
David Corwin 4 days ago
Wow, a wopping $8M for 200,000 victims! The comes out to $40 a person. Is it the going rate for street walker in Japan nowadays? What do the Japanese think they are dealing with here?!
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@David Corwin Actually, the ca. $8M is for the 46 surviving women. In that regard, it is a nontrivial sum.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta would you take the deal if you were one of the 46 survivors who had to go through those horrible things and live with it for over 70 years?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Yes, I absolutely would take the money. Horrible things happen in war, but it is time to put the past to bed. I am a firm believer that if you keep living in the past you have no future.
The past should be used to prepare for the future, not to dictate the future (or even the present).
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta the money is not the issue here, the real issue is the sincerity of the Japanese government. If you can't face the history, can't correct the past mistakes, there is no future what so ever.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta I agree with you latter statement completely. My own view, is that most Japanese (but certainly not some fanatical nationalists in Japan) have faced the past and learned from it. Currently, Japan is very far removed from the militarist past and is a well functioning democracy.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I know we are moving far away from the original discussion by starting this philosophical debate, but I have a question. How is it the past does not dictate the present or future?
Again, I know this is very off-base from the purpose of the article, but your comment here sparked my curiosity. Have a safe and happy new year, Mr. Kuchta.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang I guess what always bothers me about this issue is how some individuals, and countries, will use events that occurred long, long ago (but not necessarily far, far away!) to dictate their current lives or policies. Examples include: (1) China's claim to all of the South China Sea based on ancient history; (2) Some friends who can't stand Germany or Germans because of what the Nazi's did in WW2, even though there are virtually no Nazi's left alive and todays Germans are several generations removed from the Nazi's; (3) The continuing instability in the Balkan states that, near as I can tell, is based on wars fought 100+ years ago. (4) Many aspects of "victimology" i.e., the feeling of some people that "I am not doing well because of what was done to my parents/grandparents/great grandparents/etc."
We should learn from these actions of the past, not let them cloud our current judgement.
Lingyi Jiang
Lingyi Jiang 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta I think the examples you listed here are not relevant to the issue we were discussing. I am a Chinese, and I personal do not totally agree with what China is doing near the South China Sea. But the WWII it's not a dispute, and the damage is much worse than some countries fighting over some fishing territory. Also, I'm sure there are some people are still hateful but majority of the world has no problems with the Germans as they've sincerely faced the history and the mistakes they've made in the past. I personally have no issues against Japanese citizens either, I have plenty Japanese friends myself. My issue is with the Japanese gov, who has never officially apologize for the crimes of WW2 or punished the war criminals who killed millions of innocent people. Instead, they warship the killers in a temple and the their leaders go to honor them after taking over office. That's what I, and a lot of other Asian people, have always had issues with
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta
Nor has China apologized for their atrocities against American and allied prisoners of war in the Korean conflict. As you can see, very few are totally innocent in war.
Can we all move along now?
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Nevin Taylor @Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta Great post! The last 6 words of your post summarize my view on this perfectly.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Lingyi Jiang @Robert Kuchta The war shrine in Japan is a tricky issue. Nominally, it is a memorial to all of the soldiers who died in WW2. However, that necessarily includes some of the leaders who started the war and/or committed various atrocities as well as the low level Japanese soldiers sent to their deaths by these very same leaders. Thus, I don't think that there is a clear right or wrong answer to a generic memorial.
My including the South China Sea issue is the problem of countries making any sort of claim based on ancient history. Just as China today is claiming the South China Sea based on certain dates in history, other countries could probably make the same claim based on other dates. Given the history of how often countries have started wars for economic reasons, this seems like a recipe for war given the economic value of the South China Sea.
Hans Vincent
Hans Vincent 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Lingyi Jiang
Robert that is true. But will Japan also give up it's claims on a lot of islands it claims/occupied based on it's supposed historical data?will Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines? This is the Dilemma. While the West tends to demonize China, all their accusations on China are very much applicable on itself and a lot of nations including its allies in Asia and in the western hemisphere. Michael Phelps can easily swim from the coast of Taiwan to the island of Diaoyu yet the U.S just lets Japan occupy it despite Taiwan also being an "ally". The only way one can say with authority that these islands should be owned by no one is to apply it to all which will not happen just as the U.S will not leave its bases around Cuba.
Andrew Poplaski
Andrew Poplaski 4 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @Andrew Poplaski Thank you for your response, Mr. Kuchta. After reading your examples, I understand the context of your previous statement. I wish you a healthy new year.
Robert Kuchta
Robert Kuchta 4 days ago
@Andrew Poplaski @Robert Kuchta And to you as well!
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@Robert Kuchta @David Corwin They Japanese should have compensated the surviving victims 70 years ago when more of them were alive.
Adrian Davis
Adrian Davis 4 days ago
Hopefully, we (the U.S.) won't get a guilty conscious and start ponying up for our wrong doings throughout history. We would have hell to pay and I am all out of saying sorry for our ancestors. A higher power has to deal with them.
John Shniper
John Shniper 4 days ago
Way too little, way too late! Japan's arrogance about its Mass Atrocities in WWII which took as many lives as Nazi Germany's continues. The real loser is Japan's stature in the world.
ERIC VEST
ERIC VEST 2 days ago
@John Shniper The Germans have made a much greater effort to apologize and compensate their victims. That the Japanese have stonewalled this issue for 70 years speaks poorly of their culture.
TED CHYN
TED CHYN 4 days ago
The dislike between Korea and Japan are historical brought about by many invasions perpetrated by Japanese government notably the invasion by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1592 and many encroachments and intrusions by Japanese pirates. The Japanese aggression led to the eventual colonization of Korea in the late 20th century.Under the occupation, the Japanese had not only subjugated the Korean nationhood but also suppressed the usage of Korea language and forced the Korean to change their Korean household sir name. All these historical enmities with the lighting-rod issue of comfort women are settled by a paltry sum of 8 million after years of political haggling make one wonder there are bigger stories behind the two ministers shaking hand on stage.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
Where did the USA troops in the Pacific get their comfort women?
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins
James,
I suggest you watch the HBO miniseries "The Pacific". At the beginning of each episode there is a short interview with the men who served there. I'm sure if you ask one of them that question they would punch you in the face.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information. Years ago, perhaps 60 or so I had read about the "aid" stations set up for USA forces....was it true ? One doesn't look for violence in a free society when asking a serious question.
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
Yes, far better than violence is to make insinuation against men who can't defend themselves against your baseless and deliberately incendiary conjecture.
What's it like working for Al Jazeera by the way?
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon Would volunteer "aid" stations be wrong? Why a defense?
Katie Goldstein
Katie Goldstein 4 days ago
My grandfather was a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps on the island of Tinian from 1944 through the end of the war and served under General Curtis LeMay. While he said there were no women, I can assure you he realized much comfort from serving in support of the missions carried out by the Enola Gay and Bocks Car.
Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @James Ewins @Timothy Boucher Actually, if you read the dozens of books written by US veterans of all branches, but particularly the Marines, you'll read that they fought in places with small or no indigenous populations. What happened time after time was that Marines would invade a Japanese held island, the Japanese would be wiped out and the Marines would be left on the island afterward while the high command arranged for bringing in new recruits, replacing lost/destroyed equipment, etc. for the next campaign/battle. One, but not the only, example of excellent first hand accounts is Eugene B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa." He actually expends considerable ink in the book discussing how the isolation on sparsely populated islands after fierce battles with the Japanese affected young Marines' morale and their attitudes toward the war and the Japanese in general.
Timothy Boucher
Timothy Boucher 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Timothy Boucher
"Why would anyone go to a HBO mini for factual information."
Did you miss the part about the interviews with the veterans who were actually there? Anyhow, not sure if you were (hopefully) joking or not, but those guys went through hell for an honorable cause. Your "question" was offensive.
Eric Mao
Eric Mao 4 days ago
@Timothy Boucher @James Ewins Timothy, in my view James's is a serious question that Americans don't want to touch. Let's not pretend American young men didn't have needs. Further, exactly because they were going through hell and any moment could be their last, the needs might become even more urgent. Both American and Japanese soldiers went through hell in the Pacific, and, on the battlefield, you fight for your buddies on your left and right, regardless whether your nation is at war for an honorable cause. It would bring me comfort if I learned American troops had a way to relieve their sexual pressure during the Pacific War.
Anthony Aaron
Anthony Aaron 4 days ago
@James Ewins
As a Marine who became a POW in a Japanese camp for more than 2 1/2 years, my uncle had no comfort of any kind during that time - let alone women.
The same with my great-grandfather who was a POW in Siberia for 12 years after he was captured during WW1 - no comfort there, either.
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins Philippines and they continue to do so as we speak!!
Jacob Mathews
Jacob Mathews 4 days ago
At least now the Japanese agreed to compensate these women in distress.
Hope the healing will take place after all the cruelty of World War Two
Let Korea and Japan could come to a better relationship after this settlement,but the scars will be there till death for these women.
Bill Fotsch
Bill Fotsch 4 days ago
$8million dollars for 20,000 to 200,000 women forced into prostitution? This would be a settlement for 1 woman in the US with a decent attorney. This was clearly an agreement that enables both governments to save face, having nothing to do with restitution for the woman involved. Given the time that has past, it seems to be a good effort to put this behind both companies. The important thing it seems to lack is a formal, public apology by the Japanese government.
Dongwoo Park
Dongwoo Park 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch This is exactly how most of Koreans think
Robert Cochran
Robert Cochran 4 days ago
My guess is that the settlement is for the 46 remaining alive.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer have each probably paid $8MM to hookers in their lifetimes (so far) and associated legal fees. Come to think of it, lawyers are pretty much legal prostitutes.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch
Oh sure. As if prostitutes don't have a bad enough reputation already, now your associating them with lawyers.
Warren Hall
Warren Hall 4 days ago
@Chuck Roehrich @Warren Hall @Bill Fotsch Touche'
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch there is plenty of guilt to go around in WWII...on all sides.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch But not in equal amounts.
James Ewins
James Ewins 4 days ago
@David Jensen Historians tend not to be good at numbers...or being objective. Remember FDR set up the Japanese by embargoing oil.
David Jensen
David Jensen 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen At the time FDR declared the embargo, the Japanese army had been killing the Chinese for years and had just invaded Indochina in an effort to stop the flow of supplies to the Chinese army.
Chuck Roehrich
Chuck Roehrich 4 days ago
@James Ewins @David Jensen
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-freezes-japanese-assets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Manchuria
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
You don't read much do you??
Nevin Taylor
Nevin Taylor 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch
Not only WWII...
Adnan Kadom
Adnan Kadom 4 days ago
@James Ewins @Bill Fotsch True but it depends who the victims are! In Iraq, families were compensated $1500 for loved ones killed by US soldiers and Libya paid $10 million for each victim of Pan Am 103!! It is all relative. And now Iran will compensate Americans for captivity in Tehran in 1979!!!!
Brian Bourdon
Brian Bourdon 4 days ago
@Bill Fotsch
While I agree with your assessment, I don't know the monetary value to be placed on innocence, or dignity. Also, who collects? The victims have for the most part "gone above". Should the money go to their heirs? Why? What did they suffer? It seems to me the situation has devolved into recognition, and symbolic contrition. Given the circumstances, that will have to be enough.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Brian Bourdon @Bill Fotsch Why do we build memorials for the victims of holocaust and relive the most excruciating moments again and again - no monetary compensation is enough to teach the generations that have not faced the evil as those who have. If there is any remorse and truly feel the guilt from the perpetrators they should be the ones to lead the effort to memorialize the crimes committed against these women in the first place. Germany champions as its leadership stands to criticize Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for moving the blame away from Hitler and incorrectly placing it to the Palestinian grand Mufti for holocaust.
Mark Alan Harris
Mark Alan Harris 4 days ago
Well, the WWII ended 70 years ago. All of these women would have to be in their 80s or 90s. Is the money going to them or their families? To paraphrase a current candidate for President, "what difference does it make?"
The time for reparations to these women is long past. This should have been cleaned-up as part of the surrender treaty or during the years immediately following while the U.S. had great influence over Japan.
This is another sad paragraph in the chapter of human cruelty.
Winnie Holden
Winnie Holden 4 days ago
@Mark Alan Harris and it's so sad these women have to spend the past 70 years living in the shadow of these horrible memories....
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
For the 20 years following the surrender, Japan couldn't take care of its own veterans or their families. I remember seeing these men wearing bleached white uniforms, singing and playing musical instruments at the entrances to shrines in various cities. They had to beg for donations.
Elderly parents and grandparents who had lost their sons in the war were warehoused in "orphanages" with next to nothing to survive on. My dad's Tokyo Masonic lodge, made up of mostly WW II veterans, adopted one of these orphanages, providing groceries and charcoal bought at the Army Commissary and PX.
Rosemary Abbott
Rosemary Abbott 4 days ago
@Eric Davis
This is PC on steroids. Oh boo-hoo for your poor WWII Japanese former soldiers...they sure didn't bring pain to anyone during the war. Did they.
Eric Davis
Eric Davis 4 days ago
@Rosemary Abbott @Eric Davis
Sorry you were offended, Rosemary.
My intent was to show the war's horrors lasted for decades afterward.
Alexis Hatch
Alexis Hatch 4 days ago
How can $8 mil after 70 years be anything but an insult. Really??? Either offer no money (but make a deep and humbling public apology) or make it a real number.
ISAAC KIM
ISAAC KIM 4 days ago
@Alexis Hatch If there is any lessons to be learned from the atrocities of war inflicted on humanity we are leaving a legacy of mockery on humanity for the future generations to come. After allowing virtually all war criminals to go unpunished because the emperor Hirohito had to be saved under Douglas MacArthur's decree, the burden of unpaid injustice had to be born by the generations of innocent many.
john boeger
john boeger 4 days ago
@ISAAC KIM @Alexis Hatch i think that our president truman made that decision.
Douglas Fox
Douglas Fox 4 days ago
It never ceases to amaze me about the injustices that are committed by men in this world. The resolution of this has taken 70 years. The Chinese women were also abused by the Japanese and who knows or has reported on the atrocities committed by Hussein to his Iraqi people
D Dykes
D Dykes 4 days ago
Sad what humans will do to each other. Truly a broken world.
Nate Smith
Nate Smith 4 days ago
Now that they are dead or 90 ,great timing .
RONALD WONG
RONALD WONG 4 days ago
At least 40 years too late.
Don Brazier
Don Brazier 4 days ago
>>>Observers say the two were under mounting pressure to come to a resolution from Washington<<<
If they did it because the US was twisting their arms you can question the sincerity of the two countries.
Friday, January 1, 2016
South Korea, Japan reach agreement on 'comfort women' By Holly Yan, KJ Kwon, Junko Ogura and Tiffany Ap, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/28/asia/south-korea-japan-comfort-women/
South Korea, Japan reach agreement on 'comfort women'
By Holly Yan, KJ Kwon, Junko Ogura and Tiffany Ap, CNN
Updated 0852 GMT (1652 HKT) December 29, 2015
South Korea and Japan reach deal on 'comfort women'
South Korea and Japan reach deal on 'comfort women' 02:07
Story highlights
An advocacy group for the former sex slaves says the deal is "a diplomatic humiliation"
Japan says it will give 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund to help former comfort women
An estimated 200,000 women were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers in World War II
(CNN)Japan and South Korea have reached an agreement over the long-standing issue of "comfort women," a term that describes sex slaves used by the Japanese military during World War II.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said his government will give 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund to help those who suffered.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said that as long as Tokyo sticks to its side of the deal, Seoul will consider the issue "irreversibly" resolved.
In addition, the two governments "will refrain from criticizing and blaming each other in the international society, including the United Nations," Yun said at a joint news conference Monday.
Kishida said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women."
Abe later stated himself: "I think we did our duty for the current generation by reaching this final and irreversible resolution before the end of the 70th year since the war."
Comfort woman describes her horrific experience 02:17
'A diplomatic humiliation'
But an advocacy group for former comfort women said the deal announced Monday is "a diplomatic humiliation."
"Although the Japanese government announced that it 'feels (its) responsibilities,' the statement lacks the acknowledgment of the fact that the colonial government and its military had committed a systematic crime," said the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery. "The government had not just been simply involved but actively initiated the activities which were criminal and illegal."
The group took issue that it did not address the issue of Japanese history textbooks glossing over the scope of the war crimes.
"Also, it is notable that the agreement did not specify anything on preventative initiatives such as truth seeking and history education," it said.
Japan helped establish the Asian Women's Fund in 1995, which is supported by private donors and provides assistance to former comfort women.
But up until now Tokyo had resisted direct compensation to the victims, prompting activists and former comfort women to say Japanese leaders were avoiding officially acknowledging what happened.
Stumbling block
It's estimated that up to 200,000 women were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers in World War II, mainly Korean. Other women came from China, Taiwan and Indonesia.
The agreement stems from accelerated talks that began in November. Last month, Japan, South Korea and China announced they had 'completely restored' diplomatic relations.
The three countries had not met for three years due to political tensions. South Korean President Park Guen-hye said at the time that "comfort women" was the "biggest stumbling block" to Seoul-Tokyo relations.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the forced recruitment of the "comfort women" was a grave crime against humanity.
"The Chinese side always maintains that the Japanese side should face up to and reflect upon its history of aggression and properly deal with the relevant issue with a sense of responsibility."
China, which was also occupied by Japan prior to and during the World War II has long been critical of its neighbor's role in the war and its apparent lack of remorse for war crimes following defeat in 1945.
Chapter closed?
The Japanese government requested South Korea remove this statue symbolizing "comfort women" which currently sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
The Japanese government requested South Korea remove this statue symbolizing "comfort women" which currently sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
Only a few dozen of the women are still alive today.
S.J. Friedman, author of "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women" said she doesn't believe this new agreement, even with direct compensation, will close a chapter on Japan's wartime sexual slavery.
"I think this is just the beginning," she said.
"I've spoken to the comfort women survivors and they don't want the money. They want a sincere apology, the one that Willy Brandt gave at the Holocaust memorial. The Holocaust survivors said they were healed by that apology."
Japan, in the agreement, also asked South Korea to remove a statue symbolizing comfort women that sits outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
"The activists are furious by the deal," Friedman continued. "The wording of the deal doesn't include the Japanese government systematically organized the military enslavement and the Japanese government wants the statue to be removed. I think it's insincere."
One comfort woman's story
Kim Bok-dong was a 14-year-old girl when the Japanese came to her village in Korea.
She said they told her she had no choice but to leave her home and family to support the war effort by working at a sewing factory.
"There was no option not to go," the 89-year-old woman told CNN's Will Ripley this year. "If we didn't go, we'd be considered traitors."
But instead of going to a sewing factory, Kim said, she ended up in Japanese military brothels in half a dozen countries.
There, Kim said, she was locked up and ordered to perform acts no teenage girl -- or woman -- should be forced to do.
She described seemingly endless days of soldiers lined up outside the brothel, called a "comfort station."
"Our job was to revitalize the soldiers," she said. "On Saturdays, they would start lining up at noon. And it would last until 8 p.m."
Kim estimated each Japanese soldier took around three minutes. They usually kept their boots and leg wraps on, hurriedly finishing so the next soldier could have his turn. Kim says it was dehumanizing, exhausting and often excruciating.
"When it was over, I couldn't even get up. It went on for such a long time," she said. "By the time the sun went down, I couldn't use my lower body at all."
Kim believes the years of physical abuse took a permanent toll on her body.
"There are no words to describe my suffering," she said. "Even now. I can't live without medicine. I'm always in pain."
CNN's Sol Han and Yazhou Sun contributed to this report.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Japan-South-Korea-relations/Leaders-narrowly-beat-the-clock-with-historic-agreement
December 29, 2015 5:32 am JST
'Comfort women' accord
Leaders narrowly beat the clock with historic agreement
HIROSHI MINEGISHI and SUSUMU KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writers
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye strove to reach a deal before the end of 2015. © Yonhap/Kyodo
SEOUL -- Japan and South Korea's deal on the wartime "comfort women" issue, reached just three days before the end of 2015, was the result of efforts by both sides to capitalize on the opportunity afforded by the 50th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the two nations.
Taking responsibility
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday afternoon, sending him to South Korea. "I'll take responsibility," the prime minister told Kishida.
"I'll leave it to your discretion. There's no need to compromise," Abe said, adding that the meeting would have "historical significance" if a deal could be put together. He also stressed that including a reference to an agreement being a "final and irreversible" resolution to the issue was a nonnegotiable condition.
Abe's decision came in light of softening by Seoul. On Wednesday, South Korea's Constitutional Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of the 1965 treaty that declared all individual claims between Japan and South Korea permanently settled. At this news, Abe directed his executive secretary to work toward an agreement on the comfort women issue by the end of the year. The former Seoul bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, also had been found not guilty recently of defaming South Korean President Park Geun-hye, and prosecutors there Tuesday declined to appeal the ruling.
South Korea demonstrated its good faith, so Japan would reciprocate, an Abe aide said. Senior national security adviser Shotaro Yachi went to South Korea over the two days ended Wednesday for an unofficial meeting with presidential chief of staff Lee Byung-kee. Yachi had been sent to the country secretly in June as well. The trust built between Yachi and Lee helped to pave the way for the agreement.
Seoul and Tokyo compromised on the size of a fund to assist former comfort women Japan had offered to set up. More than 1 billion yen ($8.22 million) will be provided, splitting the difference between Japan's initial proposal of over 100 million yen and South Korea's request for at least 2 billion yen.
"We demonstrated the highest degree of good faith," a Japanese government source said.
Japan's 2016 upper house elections also likely were on Abe's mind. Mending fences with South Korea would obviate the need to respond to criticism from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. The prime minister wrapped up a phone call with Park on Monday evening by saying he looks forward to seeing her visit Japan.
December 29, 2015 5:32 am JST
'Comfort women' accord
Leaders narrowly beat the clock with historic agreement
HIROSHI MINEGISHI and SUSUMU KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writers
Park was motivated largely by the wishes of the U.S., a South Korean government source said. Washington, which had shown an understanding of Seoul's stance on clashes with Japan over history, began pressing harder for a rapprochement around this past spring.
At an October summit, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Park about South Korea's diplomatic strategy of cozying up to both Washington and Beijing. Seoul, fearing it could be left isolated, decided to work on fixing relations with Japan.
Park also was driven by concern that allowing this year's diplomatic milestone to pass by would eliminate a key motivating factor, as well as worry about the diminishing ranks of aging former comfort women. She decided during the summer to accelerate talks on the issue, trying to take advantage of this window of opportunity before it was shut forever.
Public opinion toward a thaw with Japan has turned more positive amid a flagging economy. South Korea is poised to shift to campaign mode as the April general election approaches. With reformers among the opposition ready to pounce over the comfort women issue, Park saw this as, effectively, the last chance for a deal with Japan.
Pressure from Washington
The agreement was in line with U.S. expectations. Obama told Abe at an April meeting that Washington would support efforts to improve relations between Japan and South Korea, particularly given the need to present a united front against North Korea. And when Obama met with Park in October, he said that he hopes the two sides can resolve their knotty historical issues to create a forward-looking relationship in northeastern Asia.
"Next they'll bring the U.S. between them and affirm unity in East Asia," a Japanese government source said.
Abe said during the phone call with Park that he aims to bolster bilateral cooperation in a number of fields, including security, to further the relationship between Seoul and Tokyo. Park said she agrees on the need to work together more closely on defense, adding that she hopes for continued close cooperation in dealing with North Korea and other issues.
South Korea, Japan reach agreement on 'comfort women'
By Holly Yan, KJ Kwon, Junko Ogura and Tiffany Ap, CNN
Updated 0852 GMT (1652 HKT) December 29, 2015
South Korea and Japan reach deal on 'comfort women'
South Korea and Japan reach deal on 'comfort women' 02:07
Story highlights
An advocacy group for the former sex slaves says the deal is "a diplomatic humiliation"
Japan says it will give 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund to help former comfort women
An estimated 200,000 women were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers in World War II
(CNN)Japan and South Korea have reached an agreement over the long-standing issue of "comfort women," a term that describes sex slaves used by the Japanese military during World War II.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said his government will give 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund to help those who suffered.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said that as long as Tokyo sticks to its side of the deal, Seoul will consider the issue "irreversibly" resolved.
In addition, the two governments "will refrain from criticizing and blaming each other in the international society, including the United Nations," Yun said at a joint news conference Monday.
Kishida said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women."
Abe later stated himself: "I think we did our duty for the current generation by reaching this final and irreversible resolution before the end of the 70th year since the war."
Comfort woman describes her horrific experience 02:17
'A diplomatic humiliation'
But an advocacy group for former comfort women said the deal announced Monday is "a diplomatic humiliation."
"Although the Japanese government announced that it 'feels (its) responsibilities,' the statement lacks the acknowledgment of the fact that the colonial government and its military had committed a systematic crime," said the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery. "The government had not just been simply involved but actively initiated the activities which were criminal and illegal."
The group took issue that it did not address the issue of Japanese history textbooks glossing over the scope of the war crimes.
"Also, it is notable that the agreement did not specify anything on preventative initiatives such as truth seeking and history education," it said.
Japan helped establish the Asian Women's Fund in 1995, which is supported by private donors and provides assistance to former comfort women.
But up until now Tokyo had resisted direct compensation to the victims, prompting activists and former comfort women to say Japanese leaders were avoiding officially acknowledging what happened.
Stumbling block
It's estimated that up to 200,000 women were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers in World War II, mainly Korean. Other women came from China, Taiwan and Indonesia.
The agreement stems from accelerated talks that began in November. Last month, Japan, South Korea and China announced they had 'completely restored' diplomatic relations.
The three countries had not met for three years due to political tensions. South Korean President Park Guen-hye said at the time that "comfort women" was the "biggest stumbling block" to Seoul-Tokyo relations.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the forced recruitment of the "comfort women" was a grave crime against humanity.
"The Chinese side always maintains that the Japanese side should face up to and reflect upon its history of aggression and properly deal with the relevant issue with a sense of responsibility."
China, which was also occupied by Japan prior to and during the World War II has long been critical of its neighbor's role in the war and its apparent lack of remorse for war crimes following defeat in 1945.
Chapter closed?
The Japanese government requested South Korea remove this statue symbolizing "comfort women" which currently sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
The Japanese government requested South Korea remove this statue symbolizing "comfort women" which currently sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
Only a few dozen of the women are still alive today.
S.J. Friedman, author of "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women" said she doesn't believe this new agreement, even with direct compensation, will close a chapter on Japan's wartime sexual slavery.
"I think this is just the beginning," she said.
"I've spoken to the comfort women survivors and they don't want the money. They want a sincere apology, the one that Willy Brandt gave at the Holocaust memorial. The Holocaust survivors said they were healed by that apology."
Japan, in the agreement, also asked South Korea to remove a statue symbolizing comfort women that sits outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
"The activists are furious by the deal," Friedman continued. "The wording of the deal doesn't include the Japanese government systematically organized the military enslavement and the Japanese government wants the statue to be removed. I think it's insincere."
One comfort woman's story
Kim Bok-dong was a 14-year-old girl when the Japanese came to her village in Korea.
She said they told her she had no choice but to leave her home and family to support the war effort by working at a sewing factory.
"There was no option not to go," the 89-year-old woman told CNN's Will Ripley this year. "If we didn't go, we'd be considered traitors."
But instead of going to a sewing factory, Kim said, she ended up in Japanese military brothels in half a dozen countries.
There, Kim said, she was locked up and ordered to perform acts no teenage girl -- or woman -- should be forced to do.
She described seemingly endless days of soldiers lined up outside the brothel, called a "comfort station."
"Our job was to revitalize the soldiers," she said. "On Saturdays, they would start lining up at noon. And it would last until 8 p.m."
Kim estimated each Japanese soldier took around three minutes. They usually kept their boots and leg wraps on, hurriedly finishing so the next soldier could have his turn. Kim says it was dehumanizing, exhausting and often excruciating.
"When it was over, I couldn't even get up. It went on for such a long time," she said. "By the time the sun went down, I couldn't use my lower body at all."
Kim believes the years of physical abuse took a permanent toll on her body.
"There are no words to describe my suffering," she said. "Even now. I can't live without medicine. I'm always in pain."
CNN's Sol Han and Yazhou Sun contributed to this report.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Japan-South-Korea-relations/Leaders-narrowly-beat-the-clock-with-historic-agreement
December 29, 2015 5:32 am JST
'Comfort women' accord
Leaders narrowly beat the clock with historic agreement
HIROSHI MINEGISHI and SUSUMU KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writers
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye strove to reach a deal before the end of 2015. © Yonhap/Kyodo
SEOUL -- Japan and South Korea's deal on the wartime "comfort women" issue, reached just three days before the end of 2015, was the result of efforts by both sides to capitalize on the opportunity afforded by the 50th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the two nations.
Taking responsibility
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday afternoon, sending him to South Korea. "I'll take responsibility," the prime minister told Kishida.
"I'll leave it to your discretion. There's no need to compromise," Abe said, adding that the meeting would have "historical significance" if a deal could be put together. He also stressed that including a reference to an agreement being a "final and irreversible" resolution to the issue was a nonnegotiable condition.
Abe's decision came in light of softening by Seoul. On Wednesday, South Korea's Constitutional Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of the 1965 treaty that declared all individual claims between Japan and South Korea permanently settled. At this news, Abe directed his executive secretary to work toward an agreement on the comfort women issue by the end of the year. The former Seoul bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, also had been found not guilty recently of defaming South Korean President Park Geun-hye, and prosecutors there Tuesday declined to appeal the ruling.
South Korea demonstrated its good faith, so Japan would reciprocate, an Abe aide said. Senior national security adviser Shotaro Yachi went to South Korea over the two days ended Wednesday for an unofficial meeting with presidential chief of staff Lee Byung-kee. Yachi had been sent to the country secretly in June as well. The trust built between Yachi and Lee helped to pave the way for the agreement.
Seoul and Tokyo compromised on the size of a fund to assist former comfort women Japan had offered to set up. More than 1 billion yen ($8.22 million) will be provided, splitting the difference between Japan's initial proposal of over 100 million yen and South Korea's request for at least 2 billion yen.
"We demonstrated the highest degree of good faith," a Japanese government source said.
Japan's 2016 upper house elections also likely were on Abe's mind. Mending fences with South Korea would obviate the need to respond to criticism from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. The prime minister wrapped up a phone call with Park on Monday evening by saying he looks forward to seeing her visit Japan.
December 29, 2015 5:32 am JST
'Comfort women' accord
Leaders narrowly beat the clock with historic agreement
HIROSHI MINEGISHI and SUSUMU KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writers
Park was motivated largely by the wishes of the U.S., a South Korean government source said. Washington, which had shown an understanding of Seoul's stance on clashes with Japan over history, began pressing harder for a rapprochement around this past spring.
At an October summit, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Park about South Korea's diplomatic strategy of cozying up to both Washington and Beijing. Seoul, fearing it could be left isolated, decided to work on fixing relations with Japan.
Park also was driven by concern that allowing this year's diplomatic milestone to pass by would eliminate a key motivating factor, as well as worry about the diminishing ranks of aging former comfort women. She decided during the summer to accelerate talks on the issue, trying to take advantage of this window of opportunity before it was shut forever.
Public opinion toward a thaw with Japan has turned more positive amid a flagging economy. South Korea is poised to shift to campaign mode as the April general election approaches. With reformers among the opposition ready to pounce over the comfort women issue, Park saw this as, effectively, the last chance for a deal with Japan.
Pressure from Washington
The agreement was in line with U.S. expectations. Obama told Abe at an April meeting that Washington would support efforts to improve relations between Japan and South Korea, particularly given the need to present a united front against North Korea. And when Obama met with Park in October, he said that he hopes the two sides can resolve their knotty historical issues to create a forward-looking relationship in northeastern Asia.
"Next they'll bring the U.S. between them and affirm unity in East Asia," a Japanese government source said.
Abe said during the phone call with Park that he aims to bolster bilateral cooperation in a number of fields, including security, to further the relationship between Seoul and Tokyo. Park said she agrees on the need to work together more closely on defense, adding that she hopes for continued close cooperation in dealing with North Korea and other issues.
"Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women" Sylvia Yu Friedman
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/30/opinions/japan-korea-china-comfort-women/
Why 'comfort women' deal doesn't shut book on Japan's wartime sex slavery
By S.J. Friedman
Updated 0426 GMT (1226 HKT) December 31, 2015
Former 'comfort woman' recalls horrors
Former 'comfort woman' recalls horrors 02:51
Story highlights
Japan's deal on "comfort women" limited to Korean sex slaves
There are many others in China, Taiwan, Philippines that suffered
Wartime sex slavery continues today in Syria and Iraq
S.J. Friedman is the author of the book "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women." The opinions expressed here are solely hers.
(CNN)After 70 years, the Japanese and South Korean governments finally released a joint statement outlining a bilateral agreement to settle the issue of comfort women, a euphemism for girls and women forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers from the 1930s until the end of World War WII.
The agreement states the Japanese government will offer a one-time final apology and to pay 1 billion yen ($8.3m) to provide care for victims through a foundation.
While there are those who argue that this is a breakthrough for the comfort women movement, the longest running activist movement on sex slavery in modern history, this agreement only deals with one country -- the reconciliation between Japan and South Korea.
It doesn't begin to address the fact that other nations continue to hold a similar grudge against the Japanese government.
In the past few days, other government leaders have begun to speak out. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou called on the Japanese government to apologize and extend compensation to Taiwanese women used as wartime sex slaves.
Estimates
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2 01:53
Academics have estimated that 200,000 women and girls across Asia Pacific were forced into sexual slavery by Japan's military. While up to half of these victims were estimated to be from Korea, there were many other victims from China, Taiwan, Netherlands, Philippines, and Indonesia who were also systematically used as sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army.
The leading scholar in China on comfort women, Su Zhiliang, of Shanghai Normal University, told me the number of victims may be much higher -- 400,000 -- with 200,000 Chinese women forced to work as unpaid prostitutes.
He calculated this figure from the approximately 1,000 military brothels that were managed by the Japanese government and military. Each year in China, more women find the courage to come out and tell their own story.
During research for my book "Silenced No More," I interviewed dozens of women from China and other countries who had been forced into prostitution. Like their Korean counterparts, the period of captivity they experienced destroyed their lives.
Many of them suffered from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome.
They faced debilitating physical and emotional problems that prevented them from living normal lives.
The first Chinese survivor to speak out, the late Wan Aihua, was 15 when she was captured, tortured and repeatedly raped. Wan had fainting spells whenever she recounted her experiences during the war. Even in her old age, she suffered great physical, emotional pain, and was unable to marry and have children of her own. She eventually adopted a daughter.
Wan Aihua was the first Chinese survivor to testify in public in China. She was from Shanxi, a province where many of the victims were from -- Hainan being one other prominent origin.
Wan Aihua was the first Chinese survivor to testify in public in China. She was from Shanxi, a province where many of the victims were from -- Hainan being one other prominent origin.
Sincere apology
These victims deserve a sincere apology that brings healing and official restitution.
Aren't their needs for reconciliation just as important and relevant as their Korean counterparts? Shouldn't their governments also be seeking a similar apology and compensation for their victims?
If the Japanese government and prime minister issue an apology for Korea, this same process must be carried out in the other countries where women suffered the same fate. These women also want the Japanese government admit legal responsibility for what really happened with a strong, sincere voice that offers them the dignity and respect they deserve.
So important is this issue to the Chinese government that in December 2015 they opened a museum in Nanjing that focuses solely on the plight of comfort women.
During the inauguration, a handful of adopted children of Chinese survivors attended on behalf of their mothers who had passed away. The museum was set up create awareness of this human rights tragedy and as a way to honor the comfort women and their legacy. It also seeks to prevent similar sexual violence in military conflicts around the world.
Closure of these war wounds is urgently needed for all those involved. This reconciliation will help to heal both the victims and perpetrators alike, as well as for the nations involved.
Even after 70 years, feelings of animosity and hatred still prevail among the Chinese against the Japanese. If this is not addressed, it will continue to be passed down from generation to generation. To break this cycle, an apology would bring about healing and help facilitate a grassroots reconciliation process.
READ: The 'Chinese Schindler' who saved thousands of jews
Wartime sexual slavery today
The voices of elderly survivors of Imperial Japanese military sex slavery have roused people to identify with their suffering. The breaking of their silence was a heroic act.
They could have kept these secrets do their grave. But instead, to prevent it from happening again, they had the courage to stand up for others.
The elderly survivors have left a legacy of moral courage and human rights activism. What happened to these women must be remembered.
We must reflect and understand the universal lessons from these crimes against humanity and see that they do not happen again. We need to also learn from this chapter of history. This form of exploitation and abuse didn't end with World War II.
It continues today, in Iraq and Syria, where women are enslaved in armed conflicts.
For this cycle to end, the world needs to take a stand and declare once and for all that there are lines that cannot be crossed in war. These lines need to be backed up with war crime tribunals and aggressive monitoring. Systematic rape through forced prostitution is a crime against humanity that will only stop when it is given the importance it deserves.
Kristie Lu Stout shares the stories of Chinese women forced to be sex slaves from Sylvia Yu Friedman's book "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women"
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1860062/book-review-silenced-no-more-gives-voice-comfort-women-japan
Almost 14 years after she began writing it, author S.J. Friedman has published a book that hopes to break the decades-long silence surrounding the mass trafficking of women and children in Asia that took place between 1931 and 1945. It's estimated that up to 400,000 women and children - half of them Chinese, the rest Korean, Dutch, Taiwanese and Filipino - were taken as sex slaves to satisfy the needs of the Japanese military during the second world war.
The victims, some as young as 11 years old, were raped by up to 40 soldiers a day. Those who tried to escape would be beaten or killed as an example; others would commit suicide to avoid the physical and emotional trauma.
Now that the remaining survivors are elderly, there is a sense of urgency: they want the truth to be known and for the Japanese government - which, Friedman says, suffers from "historical amnesia" and claims the women were voluntary prostitutes - to recognise and apologise for what happened.
Their stories are hard to read; visual imagery takes us beyond mere statistics, and forces us to imagine what they went through; the queues of men with their pants down, the stench of antiseptic and stale sweat, the permanent throbbing pain, the nausea.
Today, the remaining survivors are disabled, unable to stand straight, some partially deaf, others infertile due to uterine diseases and abuse. Their youth lost, most have since been unable to enjoy a normal relationship with men let alone bear children and raise their own family.
Yet theirs is also a tale of survival, of the human spirit. The women that Friedman meets have been fearless enough to overcome the taboo associated with rape and to share their stories with others. These seemingly frail old women are in fact resilient, determined fighters, and will continue their resistance.
Friedman also talks to Japanese activists such as Yoshifumi Tawara, secretary general of an educational network and known for his fight against revisionist textbooks, who as a consequence has been targeted by the Japanese right. She even meets three former Japanese soldiers who express hope for future reconciliation.
The author has been deeply moved by the many women she encountered while writing the book. We could point out that the stories could have been packaged in a more compelling way - at times she gets lost in the detail, and the book would have benefitted from some photography to put faces to the names and numbers. But this would be to miss the point.
Friedman has made a valuable effort to address what remains a universal problem: she points out that today nearly 36 million victims of human trafficking suffer in silence as victims of sex slavery or forced labour. While some may consider it incendiary, the most important message to take from this book is one of hope for peace.
As former UN special rapporteur and investigator Gay McDougall puts it: "Through truth and justice comes reconciliation and healing, and where there is healing for the past, there is hope for the future."
Silenced No More - Voices of Comfort Women by S.J. Friedman (Freedom Publishers)
http://www.passionfoundation.org/a-3-pillars-interview-with-sylvia-yu/
Sylvia receiving the 2013 International Human Rights Press Award (TV Merit) from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, the Hong Kong Journalists Association & Amnesty International HK.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/ellen-van-der-ploeg-dutch-comfort-women-survivor-has-wicked-sense-of-humor/
Ellen van der Ploeg (Dutch ‘comfort women’ survivor) has wicked sense of humor
November 3, 2009 in Racial Reconciliation | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment
IMG_1820
The indomitable and amazing Ms. Ellen van der Ploeg at the Hague, the Netherlands
Sylvia Yu (right) interviewing Dutch comfort woman survivor Ellen van der Ploeg (left) for video and print media
That's me (right) interviewing Dutch comfort woman survivor Ellen van der Ploeg (left) for film
Transcribing interviews
Today I finished typing out my interviews with Ellen that lasted over several days in the Hague, the Netherlands. She is generous of spirit and kind-hearted and not to mention wickedly funny. My time with her was full of easy laughter and warm smiles.
She’s a courageous woman who wants the world to know the truth of what happened to her during the war. The Japanese government still has not issued a heartfelt apology to her and other survivors of sex slavery. She is not counting on one either (sad, but perhaps the most realistic scenario).
Ellen wants to prevent the enslavement and repeated rape of women from happening again. It’s her lifelong fight to raise her voice in order to stop violence against women and girls in times of war.
On another note, I believe that racial reconciliation is necessary between Japan and the ‘conquered’ countries during the last world war: Holland, China, Korea, Philippines, Myanmar etc. Unlike Germany, Japan has not dealt with the war and issues arising out of it, ie atrocities & war crimes. These acts of inhumane cruelty still linger in the memory of these nations and cannot help but impact upcoming generations.
However, the younger generation in Japan is largely unaware of its Imperial military’s history in Asia in that time period. When they learn of the truth, I believe we are one step closer to healing the rift between Japan and the nations that were affected by the Japanese military.
There’s so much more on my mind, but I am feeling under the weather and need to sleep. Goodnight.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/hating-japan-column-by-sylvia-yu-on-cbc-news-analysis-viewpoint/
“Hating Japan” Column by Sylvia Yu on CBC News Analysis & Viewpoint
September 24, 2009 in China, Racial Reconciliation | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment, Forgiveness, Racial Reconciliation
Wan Ai Hua, the first "comfort woman" survivor from China to publicly testify
Hating Japan
April 11, 2005
Even though the Second World War ended in Asia 60 years ago, thousands of people marching through the streets of Beijing over this past weekend were not about to let go of their bitterness over Japanese war crimes committed before and during that war.
For two days this weekend in China’s capital, normally a city of well-behaved citizens in this noisy but strict police state, it was a surreal scene of streets filled with hundreds of soldiers, with their masks and shields and sub-machine guns, as well as an equal number of police officers and curious onlookers.
The police were far outnumbered by at least a thousand angry protesters who were pelting eggs, rocks and bottles at the Japanese Embassy – and at anything Japanese. They were chanting “Down with Japan” at one point. I saw hundreds of people on one of the main roads marching and waving gigantic Chinese flags, and some had Japan’s flag with an X marked on it.
The people marching were calling on Beijing to block Japan’s intentions to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council. They were also demanding a boycott of Japanese products in response to Japanese school history textbooks that gloss over wartime atrocities in China, like the massacre of more than 200,000 Chinese during what’s known as the Rape of Nanking in 1937.
Another sore point is Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeat visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals are honoured.
The protesters were angered by their perception of Japan as unwilling to sincerely apologize to war crimes victims, including survivors of the Imperial Military sex slavery system – what’s known as the “comfort women” system – which was endorsed by the government and run by the army.
More than 200,000 women were kidnapped or coerced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers; they were of Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Burmese and Dutch backgrounds, and from other occupied territories.
It’s known the Japanese government was involved in a shady cover-up of the military sex slavery, even going so far as accusing these elderly women of volunteering and prostituting themselves. This infuriated the Koreans and Chinese.
The protesters’ weekend show of force was, in fact, a surprising culmination of a cyber phenomenon: a recent growing protest in the form of a petition circulating through the internet opposes Japan having the privilege of veto power on the Security Council at the UN.
Within weeks, millions of Chinese signed the petition aimed at UN member countries, leaders and ambassadors before a vote is taken. To date, 30 million people and counting have become cyber warriors against Japan.
Some report a crowd of 6,000 people marched towards the Japanese Embassy from the university area. Then they surrounded the Japanese ambassador’s residence. Embassy windows were smashed and the Japanese government called in the Chinese ambassador and demanded an apology, compensation and protection for its nationals living in China. A Japanese Embassy spokesperson said Chinese police stood by and did nothing while people threw rocks at the embassy.
You could say the Chinese government allowed the protest to take place. Buses were organized to bring students in and take them back home. One police officer was heard saying through a megaphone, “You’ve been working hard all day, and it’s now time for you to go home. Organizers take your people home.”
In the aftermath, one Toyota was overturned onto its roof. And a camera store owner cleared his shelves of Sony and Nikon cameras before the crowds could get to it.
While I was watching the protest unfold, I felt great empathy for the Japanese and feared for their safety, especially the well-being of Japanese journalists standing nearby; but I also understood all too keenly why the Chinese were feeling so incensed.
I know from my many conversations with local Chinese that hatred towards Japan runs deep because of its invasion of China, and many of them have expressed anger about the cruelty of the soldiers.
This period is of particular interest to me as I have witnessed many elder Korean-Canadians subtly protesting the Japanese government’s lack of apology for the colonization of Korea by boycotting Japanese electronics and cars.
I have also spent time and interviewed former sex slave survivors, such as 77-year-old Wan Ai Hua, in an effort to help document their stories. They are haunted and in despair that they may never receive an apology from the Japanese government in their lifetime, when that is all they want to hear in their old age. They feel it would help heal their wounds.
And I have heard the frustrations of several Chinese, Korean and American human rights activists and lawyers who tell me that their ongoing fight to receive an apology and compensation for these aging sex slave survivors through the courts is continually stonewalled through direct Japanese government pressure on judges, who are political appointees and fear for their careers.
On the other hand, I have also met wonderful and supportive Japanese activists who detest the government-approved textbooks and hope to reconcile with the Koreans and Chinese. They have put their reputations and careers on the line to work towards this end as writers, lawyers and scholars.
So the question I was asking myself over the weekend was, how do you heal these wounds between the two countries? Unless diplomatic relations between China and Japan are smoothed over quickly, I do foresee an eventual mass exodus of Japanese companies and nationals.
The Japanese already view China as a hostile place for them to live. Now, with millions of Chinese hitting the Japanese in their pocketbooks, where it counts, this could, in an ideal world, lead to some backtracking and serious review of the recently-approved textbooks.
China really doesn’t need Japan economy-wise, since numerous countries are lining up to invest. But Japan needs China more than ever to revitalize its sagging financial state.
In a worst-case scenario, and probably the most realistic, survivors of wartime atrocities like Zhu Qiaomei – one of the oldest, who died at 96 in Shanghai not too long ago – will never receive an apology from the Japanese government. Only 39 other “comfort women” survivors have come forward in China and some are involved in legal battles for compensation.
The Japanese government has been accused of dragging its feet in the legal process, in hopes that the aged would get discouraged or even die off.
But even so, the death of survivors will certainly not extinguish the incendiary issue of this painful chapter of history, as the weekend’s protests clearly show. With the up-and-coming generations and future leaders in China’s universities and internet cafes circulating Hate-Japan e-mails and chatroom talk, the future relationship between China and Japan is not so rosy, to say the least. Unless a miracle happens or China suddenly forgives Japan.
Plans are already in the works in Beijing for a 60th anniversary celebration of the end of the Japanese War of Aggression. It’s clear the Chinese government doesn’t plan to forget anytime soon.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/the-forgotten-victims-of-japanese-biological-warfare-in-china/
The forgotten victims of Japanese biological warfare in China
February 26, 2012 in Biological warfare, China, Human Rights, Japanese war crimes, Reflection | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment, Biological warfare, Empower the voiceless, Rural villagers
From the archives: My CBC Viewpoint China Column from 2005
By Sylvia Yu
For 63 years, Mr. Chen Chong Wen has had to change the bandages on his leg daily. His home-style remedy for his oozing wound is to use a playing card to stop the flow. “There’s no medicine for this,” he said, “it hurts very much and it itches.”
The stench of rotting flesh is overwhelming as he shows his leg. His open sore is terrible-looking and has a tofu-like texture. He feels he’s been a burden to his family because they have to take care of him. “It’s my bad luck,” he says and looks down at the ground.
Mr. Chen Chong Wen (center) with injured leg from biological warfare
Chen was infected with “rotten leg disease,” it’s also known as glanders, as he was running away from the Japanese Imperial Army in Zhejiang province in 1942. His mother was also infected. And not too long after her heel rotted off, she died in terrible pain.
At the time he didn’t know why he had met such misfortune, but Chen now knows that he was a victim of biological warfare, inflicted by the Japanese military during an invasion of China.
Chen has had several costly surgeries in the last eight years with no government support. He’s interested in joining a lawsuit against the government of Japan to receive some compensation to ease some of his suffering. So far no single rotten-leg case has been filed against the Japanese government.
Since June 1995, Chinese victims of Japanese war crimes have begun to sue the Japanese government, according to Kang Jian, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer. She says there are 24 cases altogether on behalf of biological warfare survivors, Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) and sexual slavery victims.
“We’re asking relatives to testify and we have survivors to bear witness on the use of biological warfare dropped on villages, and chemical bombs and canisters that are still being unearthed in China,” she says.
Li Meitou with Thekla Lit, a founder of BC Alpha. (Photo: BC Alpha)
Last fall I met another survivor of biological warfare in southern China. I went to visit 77-year-old Ms. Li Meitou in her home village near Tang Xi township.
The tiny woman limps along ahead of me as we walk to her home. She smiles gently and often in spite of the chronic pain she endures. Li has had rotten leg disease since she was 12 years old.
“I’ve had difficulty walking and I experience pain, a fierce burning feeling,” she says. Because she can’t afford medical treatment, she uses some over-the-counter medicine and salt.
Li’s home was a small, dark one-room place with a dirt floor and dingy walls; one small table and bench lined the back. I felt sick that she had to live this way. Why wasn’t she receiving any substantial financial support?
As she sits down she takes off her bandage and shows me her rotting leg. One of my friends has to walk back and turn away because the smell of her open wound made him nauseous. She asked us to tell her story to the world so that all would know what the Japanese did to her and others in her village.
Exact figures of deaths as a result of Japanese biological warfare are hard to come by. But China’s most famous champion of biological warfare survivors, Wang Xuan, who has gathered evidence for lawsuits launched in Tokyo, says as many as 50,000 people in Quzhou died in 1940 from the plague that spread to neighbouring areas until 1948. In total 300,000 people fell ill from this plague attack.
China's most famous champion of biological warfare survivors, Wang Xuan. (Photo: BC Alpha)
Wang, whose home village in Yiwu was devastated by biological warfare, says the Japanese military used germ-carrying fleas mixed with grains, fibres, beans and cottons. They dropped these “balls” from the sky and let them float down. The local rats then ate the grains, and the fleas also jumped onto small animals and infected people.
The fleas were specially raised to carry germs at the infamous Unit 731 laboratory in Northern China that the Japanese military set up to create and test biological warfare experiments. One Unit 731 veteran testified in a Japanese court how rats and fleas were raised and how 600 kg of anthrax was produced monthly at the compound.
About a decade ago, farmers from Wang’s home village “wanted to fight for their rights and dignity” for the immense suffering and deaths caused by the Japanese military. They sent a petition to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.
Somehow a group of Japanese peace activists heard about the village and decided to find out more. The Japanese activists reported their findings at an international symposium in Harbin, China, which the Japan Times covered. Wang, who was living in Japan at the time, read the article. The rest is history. She got in touch with people from her village again and eventually became a vocal activist as well as researcher and translator for the Japanese legal team.
The illiterate villagers set up a Japanese biological warfare investigation committee. They were able to obtain a diary of a Japanese military doctor who was stationed with the occupation army in Yiwu. He was a Christian and humane, says Wang. He condemned the war crimes and documented biological warfare activities in his diary.
There was three years of preparation involving the Japanese peace activists, scholars, villagers and local Chinese government. They had an annual medical check up to trace evidences of the plague in the area. Every year, researchers caught 100 rats to see if they still carried the plague, by determining if plague germ antibodies were in their blood.
Up until 1996, plague germs were found in rats. In 2001, a Chinese doctor testified that biological warfare still threatens the Chinese people. His testimony was covered by international news agencies.
The villagers lost their first-ever lawsuit in August 2002. However, the Tokyo District Court confirmed the use of biological warfare by the Japanese Imperial Army. “For the first time in history an office of authority in Japan admitted biological warfare in China. The verdict is in history. The [Japanese court] said biological warfare was in violation of the Geneva Treaty and international agreements and that Japan was responsible for that,” says Wang. “But they said the issue of responsibility was resolved because China gave up her rights [to seek war reparations] in the 1972 Sino-Japan Joint Communiqué.”
In the recent war of words and diplomatic tensions between China and Japan, the most important voices have not been heard. Many actual victims of Japanese war crimes are living in squalid conditions and cannot afford basic medical treatment.
How is it that survivors of cruel, inhumane acts in war, like Chen Chong Wen, have been forgotten? I just don’t understand and shake my head at the Japanese prime minister and his repeat visits to a shrine that honours infamous war criminals (no one responsible for biological warfare was ever convicted for crimes against humanity).
Indeed, I’m dumbfounded at the lack of financial aid for these biological war crime survivors, when I’ve been told China is angry about Japanese history textbooks that whitewash the suffering of the Chinese during the Japanese invasion. The elderly survivors need medical help, and they need financial aid.
I will never forget the sight of Chen Chong Wen weeping. With a pained expression on his face, Chen sobbed loudly, “I don’t want anything else. I just want the wound to close. That’s the only thing I want.”
Wan Aihua (万爱花)
http://en.people.cn/90882/8394416.html
The last days of Wan Aihua- a 'comfort woman' during the WWII
(People's Daily Online) 08:03, September 10, 2013
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Wan bathes in the sunshine near the window, Nov. 1, 2012. (Chinanews/Wei Liang)
"I don't' want to die, because I'm a witness of crime in the war. I will wait till the Japanese government apologizes." Those were the words repeated by 84-year-olld Wan Aihua when she was still alive. She said that she wasn't afraid of death, but she could never walk out the shadow of the abuse in the past.
Wan Aihua had been kidnapped three times by the Japanese army since she was 14 during the WWII. She had been tortured, raped and sexaully abused by the Japanese army which led to multiple fractures, lifelong infertility and other squeals to her. In 1992, Wan became the first one in China who testified against Japanese sexual violence in WWII. At 0:45 a.m. on Sept. 4, 2013, the old woman left the world with unsatisfied wills. All her pains and pathos have been buried at the end of life. No last words left.
From June 2012 to July 2013, we visited Wan several times and recorded her last days with camera. The biggest wish of Wan is to live on to continue suing the Japanese government until it makes apology. "If the thing can be done, I will die at ease," she said. But till the end of her life, she still didn't get any apology from the Japanese government.
http://ianhumondai.blogspot.jp/2015/11/blog-post_18.html
映画「太陽がほしい」監督 班忠義さん
政治利用され続ける中国“元慰安婦”たち
誰も救われない現状をいかに越えるか
福島 香織 2015年11月18日（水）3 4 5
11月12日、山西省陽泉市盂県の西煙村で
一人の老女が亡くなった。
中国メディアはこれを一斉に手厚く報じた。
彼女の名前は張先兎。
山西省の"元慰安婦"として90年代後半から
2007年にかけて日本の東京地裁、最高裁で行われた
中国戦時性暴力被害対日損害賠償訴訟原告の
16人の"元慰安婦"の一人 であり、
最後の生存者だったからだ。
折しも、その数日前、
東京大学駒場キャンパスで上映された
中国人"元慰安婦"たちの証言と人生を記録した
ドキュメンタ リー映画「太陽がほしい」
（班忠義監督）を見たばかりなので、
なおさらこのニュースが心に刺さった。
先の日中韓首脳会談で、中韓が日本を牽制する
切り札と して持ち出した
"慰安婦問題"について改めて考えてみたい。
中国元慰安婦対日損害賠償訴訟原告、最後の一人
中央ラジオなどによれば、11月12日午前9時15分ごろ、
張先兎は西煙村の自宅で亡くなった。
長らく病の床にあった。享年89歳。
彼女は90年代から2000年代に東京で
三度にわたって行われた
中国元慰安婦対日損害賠償訴訟の原告16人の一人でもあった。
彼女が日本軍に連行されたのは1942年の旧正月二日で
当時16歳。新婚4日目で、夫は13歳だった。
その朝、銃剣を持った日本兵がやってきて彼女を連行したという。
夫が日本兵の腕にすがって、連れていかないでくれ、と訴えると、
日本兵は夫を銃剣で刺さそうとした。
彼女も顔を何度もビンタされた。
そして山の上のトーチカにつれていかれ、
約20日にわたって監禁され何度も強姦されたという。
20日後、夫が金を用意して彼女を"買い戻した"。
まだ少年ともいえる夫は、この時の恐怖で
PTSD（心的外傷後ストレス障害）になったようで、
一生、腕や顔の震えが止まらず、
仕事も勉強もままならなかったという。
彼女も心と体に傷を負い、
ほぼ一生貧しい山村から外に出ることもなかった。
万愛花 Wan Aihua
1930年内蒙古生まれ（2013 年逝去）
映画「太陽がほしい」より
万愛花（ｳﾞｧﾝ・ｱｲﾌｧ） 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
【信憑性】 信憑性なし。
同村で同じように日本兵の被害者となった劉面換や
陳林桃の証言と比べても明らかに異色で突出した内容です。
恐らく同女が日本兵と漢奸
（※日本人の手先となった中国人）に
酷い暴行を受けたことがあるのは事実だと思いますが、
あまりにも誇張や創作を挿入し過ぎです。
だが、1992年、中国で最初に旧日本軍から受けた
性暴力被害を公に証言した元共産党少女幹部、万愛花が
山西省盂県の小学校教師・張双兵や日本の人権派、
リベラリストらの支援を受けて活動を開始、
彼女も1995年、山西省の他の"元慰安婦"たち15人とともに
日中民間の支援を受けて日本政府に謝罪賠償を請求する
訴訟を起こすことを決意した。
1998年に提訴、2007年の最高裁の判決は請求棄却であったが、
彼女らが戦時性暴力の被害者である事実は 認められた。
この16人の山西省の"元慰安婦"たちは
これですべてこの世から去った。
張先兎は亡くなる40日ほど前から病が重篤化。
最後の瞬間まで、日本政府に謝罪と賠償を求め続けていたが、
ついに、彼女の求めていた一言は聞けなかった、
と多くの中国メディアは結んでいる。
中国には、張先兎のような農村女性は数多くいた。
そうした"元慰安婦"ら約80人の生活や証言を
記録してきたドキュメンタリストの班忠義は、この夏、
その記録フィルムを一本のドキュメンタリー映画に仕上げた。
「太陽がほしい」というタイトルは、
劉面換 Liu Mianhuan
1922年山西省盂県鳥耳荘生まれ（2012 年逝去）
劉面換（ﾘｭｳ・ﾐｴﾝﾌｧﾝ） 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
【慰安所までの移動時の公権力・軍の関与等】
慰安所には入れられておらず、近くの村の石洞に監禁される。
【考察】 同女の家まで来て連行したのは、3人の「漢奸」で、
最初に同女を強姦したのも「漢奸」です。
日本兵ばかりでなく、
積極的に「漢奸」が参加していたことが分かります。
「ｶﾞｲｻﾝｼｰとその姉妹たち」には、以下の通りの記述があり、
同女が監禁された進圭社には多くの「漢奸」がいたようです。
【信憑性】
同村や近くの村で同様の被害にあった女性達の証言と
内容の齟齬はなく、信憑性はあると思います。
その中に出てくる"元慰安婦"の一人、劉面換が、
真っ暗なヤオトンに監禁され強姦される日々を回想し、
「外に出たかった、
太陽の光がほしかった」と訴えた言葉から引いている。
山西省の"慰安婦"の存在について、
班忠義はドキュメンタリー映画
「ガイサンシー（蓋山西＝山西一の美人）とその姉妹たち」
（2007年）を発表 しているが、その最初の取材が始まった
1995年から2015年まで何度も現地に足を運び、
日本で寄付金を募り、その資金で貧困や性暴力の後遺症に苦しむ
"元慰安婦"たちを病院に連れていくなどの支援活動の傍ら、
記録を撮り続けていた。
劉面換は2012年4月12日に病で亡くなった。
最初に日本軍による性暴力を告発した
万愛花も2013年9月5日に83歳で死亡。
彼女は山西省盂県羊泉村に童養媳（農村の幼嫁）として売られ、
11歳で共産党に入党、抗日戦線に身を投じ
15歳で少女幹部になった革命少女だった。
1943年に三回日本 軍に捕まり、強姦と拷問を経験したという。
班忠義が取材した80人の"元慰安婦"たちは、
10人ほどを残して、もうほとんどこの世にいない。
戦争、日本軍、中国政府、中国人
厳密にいえば、
張先兎、万愛花、劉面換らを"慰安婦"というのは違う。
山西省から国民党軍が撤退したのち、
日本軍が村々に駐屯すると、兵士たちは女性を"現地調達"した。
それは軍令違反であるが、混乱の戦時下、誰がそれを気に留めよう。
比較的裕福な家の娘が狙われたという。
トーチカがしばしば"強 姦所"となった。
村人も村の一時的平和とわが身の安全を守るために、
彼女らの監禁に手を貸した。
中国人慰安婦もいた。
「太陽がほしい」には、元慰安婦・遠竹林が登場している。
15歳で結婚し出産するも、夫は日中戦争の混乱期に失踪。
幼子と老 父の生活のために
「旅館の雑務の仕事」を引き受けるが、
行ってみると慰安所であった。
彼女を騙したのは同じ中国人女性である。
彼女は監禁状態で、まさこと いう"日本名"で体を売らされ、
その間に幼い娘と老父は餓死してしまう。
望まぬ妊娠をし、
堕胎薬の副作用で一生子供の産めない体にもなった。
その後、とある戦場から逃亡した日本人兵士と相愛になり、
慰安所を脱出することに成功するが、
終戦とともに兵士は帰国し、
彼女は「敵と寝た女」というレッテルを張られて
戦後、差別と迫害に苦しめられ続けた。
映画の中で、彼女は中国政府への恨みを何度も口にしていた。
彼女の人生を狂わせたのは戦争で あり、
日本軍だが、戦後になっても彼女を苦しめ続けたのは
中国政府であり同胞であるはずの中国人であった。
袁竹林は、PTSDに苦しめ続けられながら、
2006年に脳溢血で亡くなった。
こうした"慰安婦"たちに旧日本軍や日本政府が
公式に関与していたかというと、
これは異論がある人もあるだろうし、
実際に慰安所を運営していたのは
傀儡政権下の中国人商人であろう。
だが、そこに旧日本軍に
道義的な責任がなかったわけではない。
そう考えると、"慰安婦"ら戦時性暴力被害者に
日本人とし て無関心ではいられはしない。
ただそれは個人としての、
人間としての心情であり、
外交問題となるとまた様相が変わって来る。
外交上は、日本の"戦争犯罪"は国際軍事法廷で裁かれ、
その責任を負った戦犯約1000人が
死刑判決（後日の減刑を含む）を受けた。
戦後賠償問題も各国との間で交わされた
条約・協定で国際法規上、決着して いる。
中国への戦時賠償は日中共同声明で、
中国側から放棄すると言明している。
タブーから、煙のない戦争のカードへ
それを今なお、歴史認識問題として蒸し返され、
謝罪要求が繰り返されているのは、この歴史が
外交カードとして利用されているからに他ならない。
戦争は外交の一種の手法（禁じ手ではあるが）だが、
外交もまた煙のない戦争だ。
いずれも戦いであり、負ければ国益を損ない、
国民が貧困や社会不安に陥る。
相手国が明らかに政治として
慰安婦問題を持ち出してくるのならば、
こちらも政治として対処するほかない。
そもそも、中国において
慰安婦問題は90年代、タブーであった。
「太陽がほしい」の中で
中国民間対日賠償請求連合会会長の童増がそう語っている。
「92年、二つのタブーがあった。慰安婦問題と三峡ダム問題だ」。
戦後、中国は"元慰安婦"の存在を無視し、
彼女たちも、同じ中国人からの
差別と迫害の対象になることに耐えられず、
ひっそりと息を潜めていた。
そ ういう時勢の中で、
山西省の農村小学校教師の張双兵は
1982年に蓋山西と呼ばれる伝説的元慰安婦・侯冬娥と知り合い、
元慰安婦支援活動と調査を開始した。
92年に万愛花に日本政府へ損害賠償請求訴訟を行うよう勧め、
支援したのも彼だ。
山西の農村の一介の教師であった張双兵は、
地元紙で対日戦時損害賠償 請求を訴える
童増の署名記事を見て、連絡を取り、
"元慰安婦"の対日賠償訴訟が実現に向かうのだった。
だが、この時、中国政府はこの民間の動きを弾圧した。
天安門事件の学生鎮圧で国際社会が中国の敵となったとき、
経済制裁をいち早く解除し苦境にあった中国に
手を差し伸べてくれた日本との関係を
損なってはならないという政治的理由からである。
"元慰安婦"支援活動に関わったことで
童増も張双兵も公職を失った。
この中国政府が抑え込もうとした"元慰安婦"の
賠償訴訟を支援したのは、日本の民間人だった。
日本の人権派弁護士、研究者、フェミニストらが現地に赴き、
戦時性暴力被害の聞き取り調査を行い、
提訴に必要なだけの資料・証言を揃え、民間からの寄付に
よって彼女らを東京に招いて証言させた。
最終的に敗訴で終わったが、
日本の最高裁で、彼女らが受けた
性暴力の実態は事実と認められたことは、
長らくその存在すら抹殺され、
その苦しみを口にすることすら許されなかった
彼女らの環境を大きく変えた。
今の中国は"慰安婦問題"を
韓国と共闘で日本を牽制する外交カードとして
積極的に利用するようになっている。
日本が良心の呵責も感じないでいる
非道な国家だというイメージを国際的に喧伝し、
日本の発言力、影響力を削ごうということだ。
中国政府にとってのパンドラの箱
"元慰安婦"たちに、日本政府は謝罪をしていない、
謝罪が欲しい、と訴えさせているが、
日本は村山富市内閣の時、日本国民から集めた「償い金」と
首相の「おわびの手紙」を世界の元慰安婦に届けた。
中国の"元慰安婦"たちに、
この金と手紙が届けられなかったのは、
中国政府が「元慰安婦」の存在を認定せず、断ったからだ。
なぜか。班忠義は
「金さえ出せばよいという
日本政府の上から目線が気に入らなかった」と説明するが、
私が日中関係者から私的雑談の場で聞いた話では、
「そんなものを受け取ると
パンドラの箱を開けることになる」という趣旨の言葉を聞いた。
戦時性暴力の加害者は旧日本軍だけではない。
国民党軍も慰安所は利用しており、
兵士が村々で暴力的に軍糧や女性を調達した。
共産党軍内にも性暴力はあり、
誰も公言は出来ないが、
党のため、革命のためという理由で、
性をささげることを強要された女性同志も少なくなかった。
それは一見、女性たちの自発的奉仕に見えて、
その実、性搾取である。
旧日本軍から性暴力を受けた女性だけに償い金があると、
収拾がつかなくなると考えたのかもしれない。
いずれにしろ、それは中国の政治判断であった。
日中共同宣言で中国は戦時賠償を放棄したが、
その暗黙の代償として日本は巨額の対中ODAを続けて来た。
それが中国の経済発展に貢献したのなら、
それで豊かになった中国は、
国家として自国の戦時性暴力被害者を救済すべきであった。
中国が政治判断で彼女らへの賠償金ではなく、
日本からの開発援助を選ん だのなら、
中国にも彼女らの救済の義務が生じるだろう。
だが、中国はそれをしない。
傷つけられた女性たちの心に寄り添う
班忠義は言う。
「中国政府と民間は断絶している。
この映画も、中国ではこのまま上映できない。
元慰安婦支援の活動も今は政府が認めても、
大きな市民運動になれば圧力をかけてくるだろう。
…日本人と協力して
日本政府に賠償と謝罪を要求する方が（結果を）期待できる」
戦争という外交に痛めつけられ、
外交と言う戦争に翻弄され続けている
女性たちの苦しみを思うと胸が張り裂けそうになる。
もし、彼女らを前にして、 その心を少しでも
慰めることができるのなら100万回でも
「対不起（私が悪かった）」と言いたい。
それは一国の首相でも私人としての感情ならば同じだろう。
だが、そうしても、おそらく外交として、政治として
この問題が利用されている限り、誰も救われはしない。
謝罪すれば、口先だけだといわれ、さらなる要求が重ねられる。
政治である以上、
駆け引きであり、下手な妥協はできないのだ。
だから、政治と無縁の個人として、
張先兎はじめ亡くなった女性たちとその家族に哀悼をささげ、
"慰安婦問題"を振り返りたい。
8月の安倍内閣が発表した歴史談話の中の一節
「私たちは、二十世紀において、戦時下、多くの女性たちの
尊厳や名誉が深く傷つけられた過去をこの胸に刻み続けます。
だからこそ、我が国は、そうした女性たちの心に、
常に寄り添う国でありたい」という思いは、
政治家であれ民間人であれ、ほとんどの日本人の
嘘偽りのない本心であることを繰り返したい。
「元・従軍慰安婦」証言者一覧 ＜韓国以外＞
2007/01/02 (Tue) 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
陳林桃（ﾂｪﾝ・ﾘﾝﾀｳ）
李秀梅（ﾘ・ｼｭｳﾒｲ）
http://www.historyfoundation.or.kr/wianso-map/renewal/place/cc_20.asp
피해자의 증언
만애화(万愛花, Wan Aihua)
1930년 중국 내몽골 출생
4살 때쯤, 매매혼으로 양천촌(羊泉村)의 궁핍한 집에 팔렸지만, 남편은 어린 나를 꺼려해서 집에 붙어 있지 않았습니다. 항일 전쟁이 시작되고 나서 나는 14세에 공산당원이 되어, 팔로군을 위해서 일하게 되었습니다. 15세 때에는 부촌장이 되어 일본에 대항했습니다.1942년 6월 중순, 마을에 침입해 온 일본군에게 일본군의 거점인 진규사에 끌려가서, 야오톤에 감금되어 「공산당의 정보를 말해」라고 심한 고문을 받았습니다. 1주일 후에 도망갔지만, 8월 무렵, 연못에서 세탁을 하고 있을 때에 다시 잡혀 버렸습니다. 야오톤에 감금되어, 몇 명의 일본병이 강간하고 「당원의 이름을 말해」라고 벨트나 봉, 총의 개머리판 등으로 심한 고문을 받았습니다.이 때도 틈을 보고 도망갔지만, 12월인가 새해가 된 1월 무렵, 또 잡혀 거점에 끌려가서 심한 고문을 받았습니다. 의식을 잃은 나를 죽었다고 생각한 일본병은 발가벗겨서 강변에 버렸습니다. 운이 좋아서 마을의 노인에게 구함을 받아서 기적적으로 살아났습니다.사진 만애화(万愛花)씨, 곽희취(郭喜翠)씨, 주희향(周喜香)씨가 감금되었던 야오톤(횡혈식 주거)
촬영：信川美津子 사진 야오톤의 내부. 만애화씨는 여기에 세 번 감금당했다.
촬영：信川美津子/cite> 사진 리수매(李秀梅)씨, 류면환(劉面換)씨,진림도(陳林桃)씨, 후동아(侯冬娥)씨가 감금된 야오톤
촬영：班忠義
Why 'comfort women' deal doesn't shut book on Japan's wartime sex slavery
By S.J. Friedman
Updated 0426 GMT (1226 HKT) December 31, 2015
Former 'comfort woman' recalls horrors
Former 'comfort woman' recalls horrors 02:51
Story highlights
Japan's deal on "comfort women" limited to Korean sex slaves
There are many others in China, Taiwan, Philippines that suffered
Wartime sex slavery continues today in Syria and Iraq
S.J. Friedman is the author of the book "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women." The opinions expressed here are solely hers.
(CNN)After 70 years, the Japanese and South Korean governments finally released a joint statement outlining a bilateral agreement to settle the issue of comfort women, a euphemism for girls and women forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers from the 1930s until the end of World War WII.
The agreement states the Japanese government will offer a one-time final apology and to pay 1 billion yen ($8.3m) to provide care for victims through a foundation.
While there are those who argue that this is a breakthrough for the comfort women movement, the longest running activist movement on sex slavery in modern history, this agreement only deals with one country -- the reconciliation between Japan and South Korea.
It doesn't begin to address the fact that other nations continue to hold a similar grudge against the Japanese government.
In the past few days, other government leaders have begun to speak out. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou called on the Japanese government to apologize and extend compensation to Taiwanese women used as wartime sex slaves.
Estimates
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2 01:53
Academics have estimated that 200,000 women and girls across Asia Pacific were forced into sexual slavery by Japan's military. While up to half of these victims were estimated to be from Korea, there were many other victims from China, Taiwan, Netherlands, Philippines, and Indonesia who were also systematically used as sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army.
The leading scholar in China on comfort women, Su Zhiliang, of Shanghai Normal University, told me the number of victims may be much higher -- 400,000 -- with 200,000 Chinese women forced to work as unpaid prostitutes.
He calculated this figure from the approximately 1,000 military brothels that were managed by the Japanese government and military. Each year in China, more women find the courage to come out and tell their own story.
During research for my book "Silenced No More," I interviewed dozens of women from China and other countries who had been forced into prostitution. Like their Korean counterparts, the period of captivity they experienced destroyed their lives.
Many of them suffered from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome.
They faced debilitating physical and emotional problems that prevented them from living normal lives.
The first Chinese survivor to speak out, the late Wan Aihua, was 15 when she was captured, tortured and repeatedly raped. Wan had fainting spells whenever she recounted her experiences during the war. Even in her old age, she suffered great physical, emotional pain, and was unable to marry and have children of her own. She eventually adopted a daughter.
Wan Aihua was the first Chinese survivor to testify in public in China. She was from Shanxi, a province where many of the victims were from -- Hainan being one other prominent origin.
Wan Aihua was the first Chinese survivor to testify in public in China. She was from Shanxi, a province where many of the victims were from -- Hainan being one other prominent origin.
Sincere apology
These victims deserve a sincere apology that brings healing and official restitution.
Aren't their needs for reconciliation just as important and relevant as their Korean counterparts? Shouldn't their governments also be seeking a similar apology and compensation for their victims?
If the Japanese government and prime minister issue an apology for Korea, this same process must be carried out in the other countries where women suffered the same fate. These women also want the Japanese government admit legal responsibility for what really happened with a strong, sincere voice that offers them the dignity and respect they deserve.
So important is this issue to the Chinese government that in December 2015 they opened a museum in Nanjing that focuses solely on the plight of comfort women.
During the inauguration, a handful of adopted children of Chinese survivors attended on behalf of their mothers who had passed away. The museum was set up create awareness of this human rights tragedy and as a way to honor the comfort women and their legacy. It also seeks to prevent similar sexual violence in military conflicts around the world.
Closure of these war wounds is urgently needed for all those involved. This reconciliation will help to heal both the victims and perpetrators alike, as well as for the nations involved.
Even after 70 years, feelings of animosity and hatred still prevail among the Chinese against the Japanese. If this is not addressed, it will continue to be passed down from generation to generation. To break this cycle, an apology would bring about healing and help facilitate a grassroots reconciliation process.
READ: The 'Chinese Schindler' who saved thousands of jews
Wartime sexual slavery today
The voices of elderly survivors of Imperial Japanese military sex slavery have roused people to identify with their suffering. The breaking of their silence was a heroic act.
They could have kept these secrets do their grave. But instead, to prevent it from happening again, they had the courage to stand up for others.
The elderly survivors have left a legacy of moral courage and human rights activism. What happened to these women must be remembered.
We must reflect and understand the universal lessons from these crimes against humanity and see that they do not happen again. We need to also learn from this chapter of history. This form of exploitation and abuse didn't end with World War II.
It continues today, in Iraq and Syria, where women are enslaved in armed conflicts.
For this cycle to end, the world needs to take a stand and declare once and for all that there are lines that cannot be crossed in war. These lines need to be backed up with war crime tribunals and aggressive monitoring. Systematic rape through forced prostitution is a crime against humanity that will only stop when it is given the importance it deserves.
Kristie Lu Stout shares the stories of Chinese women forced to be sex slaves from Sylvia Yu Friedman's book "Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women"
Harrowing stories of sex slavery during WW2
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1860062/book-review-silenced-no-more-gives-voice-comfort-women-japan
Almost 14 years after she began writing it, author S.J. Friedman has published a book that hopes to break the decades-long silence surrounding the mass trafficking of women and children in Asia that took place between 1931 and 1945. It's estimated that up to 400,000 women and children - half of them Chinese, the rest Korean, Dutch, Taiwanese and Filipino - were taken as sex slaves to satisfy the needs of the Japanese military during the second world war.
The victims, some as young as 11 years old, were raped by up to 40 soldiers a day. Those who tried to escape would be beaten or killed as an example; others would commit suicide to avoid the physical and emotional trauma.
Now that the remaining survivors are elderly, there is a sense of urgency: they want the truth to be known and for the Japanese government - which, Friedman says, suffers from "historical amnesia" and claims the women were voluntary prostitutes - to recognise and apologise for what happened.
Their stories are hard to read; visual imagery takes us beyond mere statistics, and forces us to imagine what they went through; the queues of men with their pants down, the stench of antiseptic and stale sweat, the permanent throbbing pain, the nausea.
Today, the remaining survivors are disabled, unable to stand straight, some partially deaf, others infertile due to uterine diseases and abuse. Their youth lost, most have since been unable to enjoy a normal relationship with men let alone bear children and raise their own family.
Yet theirs is also a tale of survival, of the human spirit. The women that Friedman meets have been fearless enough to overcome the taboo associated with rape and to share their stories with others. These seemingly frail old women are in fact resilient, determined fighters, and will continue their resistance.
Friedman also talks to Japanese activists such as Yoshifumi Tawara, secretary general of an educational network and known for his fight against revisionist textbooks, who as a consequence has been targeted by the Japanese right. She even meets three former Japanese soldiers who express hope for future reconciliation.
The author has been deeply moved by the many women she encountered while writing the book. We could point out that the stories could have been packaged in a more compelling way - at times she gets lost in the detail, and the book would have benefitted from some photography to put faces to the names and numbers. But this would be to miss the point.
Friedman has made a valuable effort to address what remains a universal problem: she points out that today nearly 36 million victims of human trafficking suffer in silence as victims of sex slavery or forced labour. While some may consider it incendiary, the most important message to take from this book is one of hope for peace.
As former UN special rapporteur and investigator Gay McDougall puts it: "Through truth and justice comes reconciliation and healing, and where there is healing for the past, there is hope for the future."
Silenced No More - Voices of Comfort Women by S.J. Friedman (Freedom Publishers)
http://www.passionfoundation.org/a-3-pillars-interview-with-sylvia-yu/
Sylvia receiving the 2013 International Human Rights Press Award (TV Merit) from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, the Hong Kong Journalists Association & Amnesty International HK.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/ellen-van-der-ploeg-dutch-comfort-women-survivor-has-wicked-sense-of-humor/
Ellen van der Ploeg (Dutch ‘comfort women’ survivor) has wicked sense of humor
November 3, 2009 in Racial Reconciliation | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment
IMG_1820
The indomitable and amazing Ms. Ellen van der Ploeg at the Hague, the Netherlands
Sylvia Yu (right) interviewing Dutch comfort woman survivor Ellen van der Ploeg (left) for video and print media
That's me (right) interviewing Dutch comfort woman survivor Ellen van der Ploeg (left) for film
Transcribing interviews
Today I finished typing out my interviews with Ellen that lasted over several days in the Hague, the Netherlands. She is generous of spirit and kind-hearted and not to mention wickedly funny. My time with her was full of easy laughter and warm smiles.
She’s a courageous woman who wants the world to know the truth of what happened to her during the war. The Japanese government still has not issued a heartfelt apology to her and other survivors of sex slavery. She is not counting on one either (sad, but perhaps the most realistic scenario).
Ellen wants to prevent the enslavement and repeated rape of women from happening again. It’s her lifelong fight to raise her voice in order to stop violence against women and girls in times of war.
On another note, I believe that racial reconciliation is necessary between Japan and the ‘conquered’ countries during the last world war: Holland, China, Korea, Philippines, Myanmar etc. Unlike Germany, Japan has not dealt with the war and issues arising out of it, ie atrocities & war crimes. These acts of inhumane cruelty still linger in the memory of these nations and cannot help but impact upcoming generations.
However, the younger generation in Japan is largely unaware of its Imperial military’s history in Asia in that time period. When they learn of the truth, I believe we are one step closer to healing the rift between Japan and the nations that were affected by the Japanese military.
There’s so much more on my mind, but I am feeling under the weather and need to sleep. Goodnight.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/hating-japan-column-by-sylvia-yu-on-cbc-news-analysis-viewpoint/
“Hating Japan” Column by Sylvia Yu on CBC News Analysis & Viewpoint
September 24, 2009 in China, Racial Reconciliation | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment, Forgiveness, Racial Reconciliation
Wan Ai Hua, the first "comfort woman" survivor from China to publicly testify
Hating Japan
April 11, 2005
Even though the Second World War ended in Asia 60 years ago, thousands of people marching through the streets of Beijing over this past weekend were not about to let go of their bitterness over Japanese war crimes committed before and during that war.
For two days this weekend in China’s capital, normally a city of well-behaved citizens in this noisy but strict police state, it was a surreal scene of streets filled with hundreds of soldiers, with their masks and shields and sub-machine guns, as well as an equal number of police officers and curious onlookers.
The police were far outnumbered by at least a thousand angry protesters who were pelting eggs, rocks and bottles at the Japanese Embassy – and at anything Japanese. They were chanting “Down with Japan” at one point. I saw hundreds of people on one of the main roads marching and waving gigantic Chinese flags, and some had Japan’s flag with an X marked on it.
The people marching were calling on Beijing to block Japan’s intentions to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council. They were also demanding a boycott of Japanese products in response to Japanese school history textbooks that gloss over wartime atrocities in China, like the massacre of more than 200,000 Chinese during what’s known as the Rape of Nanking in 1937.
Another sore point is Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeat visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals are honoured.
The protesters were angered by their perception of Japan as unwilling to sincerely apologize to war crimes victims, including survivors of the Imperial Military sex slavery system – what’s known as the “comfort women” system – which was endorsed by the government and run by the army.
More than 200,000 women were kidnapped or coerced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers; they were of Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Burmese and Dutch backgrounds, and from other occupied territories.
It’s known the Japanese government was involved in a shady cover-up of the military sex slavery, even going so far as accusing these elderly women of volunteering and prostituting themselves. This infuriated the Koreans and Chinese.
The protesters’ weekend show of force was, in fact, a surprising culmination of a cyber phenomenon: a recent growing protest in the form of a petition circulating through the internet opposes Japan having the privilege of veto power on the Security Council at the UN.
Within weeks, millions of Chinese signed the petition aimed at UN member countries, leaders and ambassadors before a vote is taken. To date, 30 million people and counting have become cyber warriors against Japan.
Some report a crowd of 6,000 people marched towards the Japanese Embassy from the university area. Then they surrounded the Japanese ambassador’s residence. Embassy windows were smashed and the Japanese government called in the Chinese ambassador and demanded an apology, compensation and protection for its nationals living in China. A Japanese Embassy spokesperson said Chinese police stood by and did nothing while people threw rocks at the embassy.
You could say the Chinese government allowed the protest to take place. Buses were organized to bring students in and take them back home. One police officer was heard saying through a megaphone, “You’ve been working hard all day, and it’s now time for you to go home. Organizers take your people home.”
In the aftermath, one Toyota was overturned onto its roof. And a camera store owner cleared his shelves of Sony and Nikon cameras before the crowds could get to it.
While I was watching the protest unfold, I felt great empathy for the Japanese and feared for their safety, especially the well-being of Japanese journalists standing nearby; but I also understood all too keenly why the Chinese were feeling so incensed.
I know from my many conversations with local Chinese that hatred towards Japan runs deep because of its invasion of China, and many of them have expressed anger about the cruelty of the soldiers.
This period is of particular interest to me as I have witnessed many elder Korean-Canadians subtly protesting the Japanese government’s lack of apology for the colonization of Korea by boycotting Japanese electronics and cars.
I have also spent time and interviewed former sex slave survivors, such as 77-year-old Wan Ai Hua, in an effort to help document their stories. They are haunted and in despair that they may never receive an apology from the Japanese government in their lifetime, when that is all they want to hear in their old age. They feel it would help heal their wounds.
And I have heard the frustrations of several Chinese, Korean and American human rights activists and lawyers who tell me that their ongoing fight to receive an apology and compensation for these aging sex slave survivors through the courts is continually stonewalled through direct Japanese government pressure on judges, who are political appointees and fear for their careers.
On the other hand, I have also met wonderful and supportive Japanese activists who detest the government-approved textbooks and hope to reconcile with the Koreans and Chinese. They have put their reputations and careers on the line to work towards this end as writers, lawyers and scholars.
So the question I was asking myself over the weekend was, how do you heal these wounds between the two countries? Unless diplomatic relations between China and Japan are smoothed over quickly, I do foresee an eventual mass exodus of Japanese companies and nationals.
The Japanese already view China as a hostile place for them to live. Now, with millions of Chinese hitting the Japanese in their pocketbooks, where it counts, this could, in an ideal world, lead to some backtracking and serious review of the recently-approved textbooks.
China really doesn’t need Japan economy-wise, since numerous countries are lining up to invest. But Japan needs China more than ever to revitalize its sagging financial state.
In a worst-case scenario, and probably the most realistic, survivors of wartime atrocities like Zhu Qiaomei – one of the oldest, who died at 96 in Shanghai not too long ago – will never receive an apology from the Japanese government. Only 39 other “comfort women” survivors have come forward in China and some are involved in legal battles for compensation.
The Japanese government has been accused of dragging its feet in the legal process, in hopes that the aged would get discouraged or even die off.
But even so, the death of survivors will certainly not extinguish the incendiary issue of this painful chapter of history, as the weekend’s protests clearly show. With the up-and-coming generations and future leaders in China’s universities and internet cafes circulating Hate-Japan e-mails and chatroom talk, the future relationship between China and Japan is not so rosy, to say the least. Unless a miracle happens or China suddenly forgives Japan.
Plans are already in the works in Beijing for a 60th anniversary celebration of the end of the Japanese War of Aggression. It’s clear the Chinese government doesn’t plan to forget anytime soon.
https://lightonecandle.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/the-forgotten-victims-of-japanese-biological-warfare-in-china/
The forgotten victims of Japanese biological warfare in China
February 26, 2012 in Biological warfare, China, Human Rights, Japanese war crimes, Reflection | Tags: Anti-Japan sentiment, Biological warfare, Empower the voiceless, Rural villagers
From the archives: My CBC Viewpoint China Column from 2005
By Sylvia Yu
For 63 years, Mr. Chen Chong Wen has had to change the bandages on his leg daily. His home-style remedy for his oozing wound is to use a playing card to stop the flow. “There’s no medicine for this,” he said, “it hurts very much and it itches.”
The stench of rotting flesh is overwhelming as he shows his leg. His open sore is terrible-looking and has a tofu-like texture. He feels he’s been a burden to his family because they have to take care of him. “It’s my bad luck,” he says and looks down at the ground.
Mr. Chen Chong Wen (center) with injured leg from biological warfare
Chen was infected with “rotten leg disease,” it’s also known as glanders, as he was running away from the Japanese Imperial Army in Zhejiang province in 1942. His mother was also infected. And not too long after her heel rotted off, she died in terrible pain.
At the time he didn’t know why he had met such misfortune, but Chen now knows that he was a victim of biological warfare, inflicted by the Japanese military during an invasion of China.
Chen has had several costly surgeries in the last eight years with no government support. He’s interested in joining a lawsuit against the government of Japan to receive some compensation to ease some of his suffering. So far no single rotten-leg case has been filed against the Japanese government.
Since June 1995, Chinese victims of Japanese war crimes have begun to sue the Japanese government, according to Kang Jian, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer. She says there are 24 cases altogether on behalf of biological warfare survivors, Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) and sexual slavery victims.
“We’re asking relatives to testify and we have survivors to bear witness on the use of biological warfare dropped on villages, and chemical bombs and canisters that are still being unearthed in China,” she says.
Li Meitou with Thekla Lit, a founder of BC Alpha. (Photo: BC Alpha)
Last fall I met another survivor of biological warfare in southern China. I went to visit 77-year-old Ms. Li Meitou in her home village near Tang Xi township.
The tiny woman limps along ahead of me as we walk to her home. She smiles gently and often in spite of the chronic pain she endures. Li has had rotten leg disease since she was 12 years old.
“I’ve had difficulty walking and I experience pain, a fierce burning feeling,” she says. Because she can’t afford medical treatment, she uses some over-the-counter medicine and salt.
Li’s home was a small, dark one-room place with a dirt floor and dingy walls; one small table and bench lined the back. I felt sick that she had to live this way. Why wasn’t she receiving any substantial financial support?
As she sits down she takes off her bandage and shows me her rotting leg. One of my friends has to walk back and turn away because the smell of her open wound made him nauseous. She asked us to tell her story to the world so that all would know what the Japanese did to her and others in her village.
Exact figures of deaths as a result of Japanese biological warfare are hard to come by. But China’s most famous champion of biological warfare survivors, Wang Xuan, who has gathered evidence for lawsuits launched in Tokyo, says as many as 50,000 people in Quzhou died in 1940 from the plague that spread to neighbouring areas until 1948. In total 300,000 people fell ill from this plague attack.
China's most famous champion of biological warfare survivors, Wang Xuan. (Photo: BC Alpha)
Wang, whose home village in Yiwu was devastated by biological warfare, says the Japanese military used germ-carrying fleas mixed with grains, fibres, beans and cottons. They dropped these “balls” from the sky and let them float down. The local rats then ate the grains, and the fleas also jumped onto small animals and infected people.
The fleas were specially raised to carry germs at the infamous Unit 731 laboratory in Northern China that the Japanese military set up to create and test biological warfare experiments. One Unit 731 veteran testified in a Japanese court how rats and fleas were raised and how 600 kg of anthrax was produced monthly at the compound.
About a decade ago, farmers from Wang’s home village “wanted to fight for their rights and dignity” for the immense suffering and deaths caused by the Japanese military. They sent a petition to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.
Somehow a group of Japanese peace activists heard about the village and decided to find out more. The Japanese activists reported their findings at an international symposium in Harbin, China, which the Japan Times covered. Wang, who was living in Japan at the time, read the article. The rest is history. She got in touch with people from her village again and eventually became a vocal activist as well as researcher and translator for the Japanese legal team.
The illiterate villagers set up a Japanese biological warfare investigation committee. They were able to obtain a diary of a Japanese military doctor who was stationed with the occupation army in Yiwu. He was a Christian and humane, says Wang. He condemned the war crimes and documented biological warfare activities in his diary.
There was three years of preparation involving the Japanese peace activists, scholars, villagers and local Chinese government. They had an annual medical check up to trace evidences of the plague in the area. Every year, researchers caught 100 rats to see if they still carried the plague, by determining if plague germ antibodies were in their blood.
Up until 1996, plague germs were found in rats. In 2001, a Chinese doctor testified that biological warfare still threatens the Chinese people. His testimony was covered by international news agencies.
The villagers lost their first-ever lawsuit in August 2002. However, the Tokyo District Court confirmed the use of biological warfare by the Japanese Imperial Army. “For the first time in history an office of authority in Japan admitted biological warfare in China. The verdict is in history. The [Japanese court] said biological warfare was in violation of the Geneva Treaty and international agreements and that Japan was responsible for that,” says Wang. “But they said the issue of responsibility was resolved because China gave up her rights [to seek war reparations] in the 1972 Sino-Japan Joint Communiqué.”
In the recent war of words and diplomatic tensions between China and Japan, the most important voices have not been heard. Many actual victims of Japanese war crimes are living in squalid conditions and cannot afford basic medical treatment.
How is it that survivors of cruel, inhumane acts in war, like Chen Chong Wen, have been forgotten? I just don’t understand and shake my head at the Japanese prime minister and his repeat visits to a shrine that honours infamous war criminals (no one responsible for biological warfare was ever convicted for crimes against humanity).
Indeed, I’m dumbfounded at the lack of financial aid for these biological war crime survivors, when I’ve been told China is angry about Japanese history textbooks that whitewash the suffering of the Chinese during the Japanese invasion. The elderly survivors need medical help, and they need financial aid.
I will never forget the sight of Chen Chong Wen weeping. With a pained expression on his face, Chen sobbed loudly, “I don’t want anything else. I just want the wound to close. That’s the only thing I want.”
Wan Aihua (万爱花)
http://en.people.cn/90882/8394416.html
The last days of Wan Aihua- a 'comfort woman' during the WWII
(People's Daily Online) 08:03, September 10, 2013
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Wan bathes in the sunshine near the window, Nov. 1, 2012. (Chinanews/Wei Liang)
"I don't' want to die, because I'm a witness of crime in the war. I will wait till the Japanese government apologizes." Those were the words repeated by 84-year-olld Wan Aihua when she was still alive. She said that she wasn't afraid of death, but she could never walk out the shadow of the abuse in the past.
Wan Aihua had been kidnapped three times by the Japanese army since she was 14 during the WWII. She had been tortured, raped and sexaully abused by the Japanese army which led to multiple fractures, lifelong infertility and other squeals to her. In 1992, Wan became the first one in China who testified against Japanese sexual violence in WWII. At 0:45 a.m. on Sept. 4, 2013, the old woman left the world with unsatisfied wills. All her pains and pathos have been buried at the end of life. No last words left.
From June 2012 to July 2013, we visited Wan several times and recorded her last days with camera. The biggest wish of Wan is to live on to continue suing the Japanese government until it makes apology. "If the thing can be done, I will die at ease," she said. But till the end of her life, she still didn't get any apology from the Japanese government.
http://ianhumondai.blogspot.jp/2015/11/blog-post_18.html
映画「太陽がほしい」監督 班忠義さん
政治利用され続ける中国“元慰安婦”たち
誰も救われない現状をいかに越えるか
福島 香織 2015年11月18日（水）3 4 5
11月12日、山西省陽泉市盂県の西煙村で
一人の老女が亡くなった。
中国メディアはこれを一斉に手厚く報じた。
彼女の名前は張先兎。
山西省の"元慰安婦"として90年代後半から
2007年にかけて日本の東京地裁、最高裁で行われた
中国戦時性暴力被害対日損害賠償訴訟原告の
16人の"元慰安婦"の一人 であり、
最後の生存者だったからだ。
折しも、その数日前、
東京大学駒場キャンパスで上映された
中国人"元慰安婦"たちの証言と人生を記録した
ドキュメンタ リー映画「太陽がほしい」
（班忠義監督）を見たばかりなので、
なおさらこのニュースが心に刺さった。
先の日中韓首脳会談で、中韓が日本を牽制する
切り札と して持ち出した
"慰安婦問題"について改めて考えてみたい。
中国元慰安婦対日損害賠償訴訟原告、最後の一人
中央ラジオなどによれば、11月12日午前9時15分ごろ、
張先兎は西煙村の自宅で亡くなった。
長らく病の床にあった。享年89歳。
彼女は90年代から2000年代に東京で
三度にわたって行われた
中国元慰安婦対日損害賠償訴訟の原告16人の一人でもあった。
彼女が日本軍に連行されたのは1942年の旧正月二日で
当時16歳。新婚4日目で、夫は13歳だった。
その朝、銃剣を持った日本兵がやってきて彼女を連行したという。
夫が日本兵の腕にすがって、連れていかないでくれ、と訴えると、
日本兵は夫を銃剣で刺さそうとした。
彼女も顔を何度もビンタされた。
そして山の上のトーチカにつれていかれ、
約20日にわたって監禁され何度も強姦されたという。
20日後、夫が金を用意して彼女を"買い戻した"。
まだ少年ともいえる夫は、この時の恐怖で
PTSD（心的外傷後ストレス障害）になったようで、
一生、腕や顔の震えが止まらず、
仕事も勉強もままならなかったという。
彼女も心と体に傷を負い、
ほぼ一生貧しい山村から外に出ることもなかった。
万愛花 Wan Aihua
1930年内蒙古生まれ（2013 年逝去）
映画「太陽がほしい」より
万愛花（ｳﾞｧﾝ・ｱｲﾌｧ） 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
【信憑性】 信憑性なし。
同村で同じように日本兵の被害者となった劉面換や
陳林桃の証言と比べても明らかに異色で突出した内容です。
恐らく同女が日本兵と漢奸
（※日本人の手先となった中国人）に
酷い暴行を受けたことがあるのは事実だと思いますが、
あまりにも誇張や創作を挿入し過ぎです。
だが、1992年、中国で最初に旧日本軍から受けた
性暴力被害を公に証言した元共産党少女幹部、万愛花が
山西省盂県の小学校教師・張双兵や日本の人権派、
リベラリストらの支援を受けて活動を開始、
彼女も1995年、山西省の他の"元慰安婦"たち15人とともに
日中民間の支援を受けて日本政府に謝罪賠償を請求する
訴訟を起こすことを決意した。
1998年に提訴、2007年の最高裁の判決は請求棄却であったが、
彼女らが戦時性暴力の被害者である事実は 認められた。
この16人の山西省の"元慰安婦"たちは
これですべてこの世から去った。
張先兎は亡くなる40日ほど前から病が重篤化。
最後の瞬間まで、日本政府に謝罪と賠償を求め続けていたが、
ついに、彼女の求めていた一言は聞けなかった、
と多くの中国メディアは結んでいる。
中国には、張先兎のような農村女性は数多くいた。
そうした"元慰安婦"ら約80人の生活や証言を
記録してきたドキュメンタリストの班忠義は、この夏、
その記録フィルムを一本のドキュメンタリー映画に仕上げた。
「太陽がほしい」というタイトルは、
劉面換 Liu Mianhuan
1922年山西省盂県鳥耳荘生まれ（2012 年逝去）
劉面換（ﾘｭｳ・ﾐｴﾝﾌｧﾝ） 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
【慰安所までの移動時の公権力・軍の関与等】
慰安所には入れられておらず、近くの村の石洞に監禁される。
【考察】 同女の家まで来て連行したのは、3人の「漢奸」で、
最初に同女を強姦したのも「漢奸」です。
日本兵ばかりでなく、
積極的に「漢奸」が参加していたことが分かります。
「ｶﾞｲｻﾝｼｰとその姉妹たち」には、以下の通りの記述があり、
同女が監禁された進圭社には多くの「漢奸」がいたようです。
【信憑性】
同村や近くの村で同様の被害にあった女性達の証言と
内容の齟齬はなく、信憑性はあると思います。
その中に出てくる"元慰安婦"の一人、劉面換が、
真っ暗なヤオトンに監禁され強姦される日々を回想し、
「外に出たかった、
太陽の光がほしかった」と訴えた言葉から引いている。
山西省の"慰安婦"の存在について、
班忠義はドキュメンタリー映画
「ガイサンシー（蓋山西＝山西一の美人）とその姉妹たち」
（2007年）を発表 しているが、その最初の取材が始まった
1995年から2015年まで何度も現地に足を運び、
日本で寄付金を募り、その資金で貧困や性暴力の後遺症に苦しむ
"元慰安婦"たちを病院に連れていくなどの支援活動の傍ら、
記録を撮り続けていた。
劉面換は2012年4月12日に病で亡くなった。
最初に日本軍による性暴力を告発した
万愛花も2013年9月5日に83歳で死亡。
彼女は山西省盂県羊泉村に童養媳（農村の幼嫁）として売られ、
11歳で共産党に入党、抗日戦線に身を投じ
15歳で少女幹部になった革命少女だった。
1943年に三回日本 軍に捕まり、強姦と拷問を経験したという。
班忠義が取材した80人の"元慰安婦"たちは、
10人ほどを残して、もうほとんどこの世にいない。
戦争、日本軍、中国政府、中国人
厳密にいえば、
張先兎、万愛花、劉面換らを"慰安婦"というのは違う。
山西省から国民党軍が撤退したのち、
日本軍が村々に駐屯すると、兵士たちは女性を"現地調達"した。
それは軍令違反であるが、混乱の戦時下、誰がそれを気に留めよう。
比較的裕福な家の娘が狙われたという。
トーチカがしばしば"強 姦所"となった。
村人も村の一時的平和とわが身の安全を守るために、
彼女らの監禁に手を貸した。
中国人慰安婦もいた。
「太陽がほしい」には、元慰安婦・遠竹林が登場している。
15歳で結婚し出産するも、夫は日中戦争の混乱期に失踪。
幼子と老 父の生活のために
「旅館の雑務の仕事」を引き受けるが、
行ってみると慰安所であった。
彼女を騙したのは同じ中国人女性である。
彼女は監禁状態で、まさこと いう"日本名"で体を売らされ、
その間に幼い娘と老父は餓死してしまう。
望まぬ妊娠をし、
堕胎薬の副作用で一生子供の産めない体にもなった。
その後、とある戦場から逃亡した日本人兵士と相愛になり、
慰安所を脱出することに成功するが、
終戦とともに兵士は帰国し、
彼女は「敵と寝た女」というレッテルを張られて
戦後、差別と迫害に苦しめられ続けた。
映画の中で、彼女は中国政府への恨みを何度も口にしていた。
彼女の人生を狂わせたのは戦争で あり、
日本軍だが、戦後になっても彼女を苦しめ続けたのは
中国政府であり同胞であるはずの中国人であった。
袁竹林は、PTSDに苦しめ続けられながら、
2006年に脳溢血で亡くなった。
こうした"慰安婦"たちに旧日本軍や日本政府が
公式に関与していたかというと、
これは異論がある人もあるだろうし、
実際に慰安所を運営していたのは
傀儡政権下の中国人商人であろう。
だが、そこに旧日本軍に
道義的な責任がなかったわけではない。
そう考えると、"慰安婦"ら戦時性暴力被害者に
日本人とし て無関心ではいられはしない。
ただそれは個人としての、
人間としての心情であり、
外交問題となるとまた様相が変わって来る。
外交上は、日本の"戦争犯罪"は国際軍事法廷で裁かれ、
その責任を負った戦犯約1000人が
死刑判決（後日の減刑を含む）を受けた。
戦後賠償問題も各国との間で交わされた
条約・協定で国際法規上、決着して いる。
中国への戦時賠償は日中共同声明で、
中国側から放棄すると言明している。
タブーから、煙のない戦争のカードへ
それを今なお、歴史認識問題として蒸し返され、
謝罪要求が繰り返されているのは、この歴史が
外交カードとして利用されているからに他ならない。
戦争は外交の一種の手法（禁じ手ではあるが）だが、
外交もまた煙のない戦争だ。
いずれも戦いであり、負ければ国益を損ない、
国民が貧困や社会不安に陥る。
相手国が明らかに政治として
慰安婦問題を持ち出してくるのならば、
こちらも政治として対処するほかない。
そもそも、中国において
慰安婦問題は90年代、タブーであった。
「太陽がほしい」の中で
中国民間対日賠償請求連合会会長の童増がそう語っている。
「92年、二つのタブーがあった。慰安婦問題と三峡ダム問題だ」。
戦後、中国は"元慰安婦"の存在を無視し、
彼女たちも、同じ中国人からの
差別と迫害の対象になることに耐えられず、
ひっそりと息を潜めていた。
そ ういう時勢の中で、
山西省の農村小学校教師の張双兵は
1982年に蓋山西と呼ばれる伝説的元慰安婦・侯冬娥と知り合い、
元慰安婦支援活動と調査を開始した。
92年に万愛花に日本政府へ損害賠償請求訴訟を行うよう勧め、
支援したのも彼だ。
山西の農村の一介の教師であった張双兵は、
地元紙で対日戦時損害賠償 請求を訴える
童増の署名記事を見て、連絡を取り、
"元慰安婦"の対日賠償訴訟が実現に向かうのだった。
だが、この時、中国政府はこの民間の動きを弾圧した。
天安門事件の学生鎮圧で国際社会が中国の敵となったとき、
経済制裁をいち早く解除し苦境にあった中国に
手を差し伸べてくれた日本との関係を
損なってはならないという政治的理由からである。
"元慰安婦"支援活動に関わったことで
童増も張双兵も公職を失った。
この中国政府が抑え込もうとした"元慰安婦"の
賠償訴訟を支援したのは、日本の民間人だった。
日本の人権派弁護士、研究者、フェミニストらが現地に赴き、
戦時性暴力被害の聞き取り調査を行い、
提訴に必要なだけの資料・証言を揃え、民間からの寄付に
よって彼女らを東京に招いて証言させた。
最終的に敗訴で終わったが、
日本の最高裁で、彼女らが受けた
性暴力の実態は事実と認められたことは、
長らくその存在すら抹殺され、
その苦しみを口にすることすら許されなかった
彼女らの環境を大きく変えた。
今の中国は"慰安婦問題"を
韓国と共闘で日本を牽制する外交カードとして
積極的に利用するようになっている。
日本が良心の呵責も感じないでいる
非道な国家だというイメージを国際的に喧伝し、
日本の発言力、影響力を削ごうということだ。
中国政府にとってのパンドラの箱
"元慰安婦"たちに、日本政府は謝罪をしていない、
謝罪が欲しい、と訴えさせているが、
日本は村山富市内閣の時、日本国民から集めた「償い金」と
首相の「おわびの手紙」を世界の元慰安婦に届けた。
中国の"元慰安婦"たちに、
この金と手紙が届けられなかったのは、
中国政府が「元慰安婦」の存在を認定せず、断ったからだ。
なぜか。班忠義は
「金さえ出せばよいという
日本政府の上から目線が気に入らなかった」と説明するが、
私が日中関係者から私的雑談の場で聞いた話では、
「そんなものを受け取ると
パンドラの箱を開けることになる」という趣旨の言葉を聞いた。
戦時性暴力の加害者は旧日本軍だけではない。
国民党軍も慰安所は利用しており、
兵士が村々で暴力的に軍糧や女性を調達した。
共産党軍内にも性暴力はあり、
誰も公言は出来ないが、
党のため、革命のためという理由で、
性をささげることを強要された女性同志も少なくなかった。
それは一見、女性たちの自発的奉仕に見えて、
その実、性搾取である。
旧日本軍から性暴力を受けた女性だけに償い金があると、
収拾がつかなくなると考えたのかもしれない。
いずれにしろ、それは中国の政治判断であった。
日中共同宣言で中国は戦時賠償を放棄したが、
その暗黙の代償として日本は巨額の対中ODAを続けて来た。
それが中国の経済発展に貢献したのなら、
それで豊かになった中国は、
国家として自国の戦時性暴力被害者を救済すべきであった。
中国が政治判断で彼女らへの賠償金ではなく、
日本からの開発援助を選ん だのなら、
中国にも彼女らの救済の義務が生じるだろう。
だが、中国はそれをしない。
傷つけられた女性たちの心に寄り添う
班忠義は言う。
「中国政府と民間は断絶している。
この映画も、中国ではこのまま上映できない。
元慰安婦支援の活動も今は政府が認めても、
大きな市民運動になれば圧力をかけてくるだろう。
…日本人と協力して
日本政府に賠償と謝罪を要求する方が（結果を）期待できる」
戦争という外交に痛めつけられ、
外交と言う戦争に翻弄され続けている
女性たちの苦しみを思うと胸が張り裂けそうになる。
もし、彼女らを前にして、 その心を少しでも
慰めることができるのなら100万回でも
「対不起（私が悪かった）」と言いたい。
それは一国の首相でも私人としての感情ならば同じだろう。
だが、そうしても、おそらく外交として、政治として
この問題が利用されている限り、誰も救われはしない。
謝罪すれば、口先だけだといわれ、さらなる要求が重ねられる。
政治である以上、
駆け引きであり、下手な妥協はできないのだ。
だから、政治と無縁の個人として、
張先兎はじめ亡くなった女性たちとその家族に哀悼をささげ、
"慰安婦問題"を振り返りたい。
8月の安倍内閣が発表した歴史談話の中の一節
「私たちは、二十世紀において、戦時下、多くの女性たちの
尊厳や名誉が深く傷つけられた過去をこの胸に刻み続けます。
だからこそ、我が国は、そうした女性たちの心に、
常に寄り添う国でありたい」という思いは、
政治家であれ民間人であれ、ほとんどの日本人の
嘘偽りのない本心であることを繰り返したい。
「元・従軍慰安婦」証言者一覧 ＜韓国以外＞
2007/01/02 (Tue) 従軍慰安婦問題を考える
陳林桃（ﾂｪﾝ・ﾘﾝﾀｳ）
李秀梅（ﾘ・ｼｭｳﾒｲ）
http://www.historyfoundation.or.kr/wianso-map/renewal/place/cc_20.asp
피해자의 증언
만애화(万愛花, Wan Aihua)
1930년 중국 내몽골 출생
4살 때쯤, 매매혼으로 양천촌(羊泉村)의 궁핍한 집에 팔렸지만, 남편은 어린 나를 꺼려해서 집에 붙어 있지 않았습니다. 항일 전쟁이 시작되고 나서 나는 14세에 공산당원이 되어, 팔로군을 위해서 일하게 되었습니다. 15세 때에는 부촌장이 되어 일본에 대항했습니다.1942년 6월 중순, 마을에 침입해 온 일본군에게 일본군의 거점인 진규사에 끌려가서, 야오톤에 감금되어 「공산당의 정보를 말해」라고 심한 고문을 받았습니다. 1주일 후에 도망갔지만, 8월 무렵, 연못에서 세탁을 하고 있을 때에 다시 잡혀 버렸습니다. 야오톤에 감금되어, 몇 명의 일본병이 강간하고 「당원의 이름을 말해」라고 벨트나 봉, 총의 개머리판 등으로 심한 고문을 받았습니다.이 때도 틈을 보고 도망갔지만, 12월인가 새해가 된 1월 무렵, 또 잡혀 거점에 끌려가서 심한 고문을 받았습니다. 의식을 잃은 나를 죽었다고 생각한 일본병은 발가벗겨서 강변에 버렸습니다. 운이 좋아서 마을의 노인에게 구함을 받아서 기적적으로 살아났습니다.사진 만애화(万愛花)씨, 곽희취(郭喜翠)씨, 주희향(周喜香)씨가 감금되었던 야오톤(횡혈식 주거)
촬영：信川美津子 사진 야오톤의 내부. 만애화씨는 여기에 세 번 감금당했다.
촬영：信川美津子/cite> 사진 리수매(李秀梅)씨, 류면환(劉面換)씨,진림도(陳林桃)씨, 후동아(侯冬娥)씨가 감금된 야오톤
촬영：班忠義
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