by ROBERT KOEHLER on JUNE 18, 2007
Since some of the commentors have asked, I’ve quickly jotted down some commentary as to why I find the WaPo ad on the comfort women offensive.
AMPONTAN Japan from the inside out WaPo ad on the comfort women
From Fact 1:
No historical document has ever been found my historians or research organizations that positively demonstrate that women were forced against their will into prostitution by the Japanese Army. A search of the archives at the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records…”
Fact 1 neglects to mention, however, that one reason documentary evidence may be lacking is because Japan had 15 days between surrender and the arrival of the occupation forces to burn its documents:
The difference between the German and Japanese surrenders had a profound influence on each country’s documentation of the army, navy and the war in general. The rapid pace of the Allied advance through Germany meant that a large quantity of historically important material was requisitioned before it could be destroyed. In contrast, Japan had plenty of time to dispose of its records between the announcement of the surrender on 15 August and the landing of Allied forces on 30 August.[1] During this period some 2.5 million Japanese troops remained under the command of the Japanese armed forces, and before the arrival of the Allies they undertook the “Great Incineration Operation” ordered by the government. There is no evidence that measures to stop this destruction of records were taken by the Allies even after their arrival in Japan, though a “strong recommendation” against further destruction was apparently issued from GHQ (according to the Washington Document Centre).
One can only guess at the percentage of documents that was destroyed in the ten weeks between the surrender and the order to halt the incineration. When considering this question in the past I estimated that 99 per cent was incinerated, but I have come to think recently that it is closer to 99.9 per cent. Even the remaining 0.01 per cent has not received adequate historical examination because this period has traditionally been the preserve of political scientists. Recently, however, it has at last become possible for historians such as myself to make advances in this field and to establish the whereabouts of these materials.
More from Fact 1:
On the contrary, many documents were found warning private brokers not to force women to work against their will.
Amazing how those documents apparently didn’t get burnt. And at any rate, the fact that such directives existed on paper doesn’t mean that they translated into practice ? the fact that Korea does, in fact, have laws on the books against prostitution and periodically conducts “crackdowns” doesn’t change the fact that the country has long looked the other way at the practice. Even the United States Office of War Information report sited in the WaPo ad says about the recruiting:
Early in May of 1942 Japanese agents arrived in Korea for the purpose of enlisting Korean girls for “comfort service” in newly conquered Japanese territories in Southeast Asia. The nature of this “service” was not specified but it was assumed to be work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, and generally making the soldiers happy. The inducement used by these agents was plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, easy work, and the prospect of a new life in a new land, Singapore. On the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen.
Or how about this US Army document, Kunming-REG-OP-3:
With the exception of Mrs.Hwang Nam-suk, all of the 23 women became “comfortgirls”, apparently under compulsion and misrepresentation. The fifteen who left Korea in July, 1943, for example, were recruited through advertisements in Korean newspapers offering employment for girls in Japanese factories in Singapore. The contingent with which they were sent southward included at least 300 girls who were similarly misled.
Those warning didn’t do a whole lot of good, apparently.
From Fact 2:
There are many newspaper articles, moreover, that demonstrate that these directives were dutifully carried out. The August 31, 1939 issue of the Dong-A Ilbo…
Well, if you can’t believe a pro-Japanese newspaper founded by collaborator extraordinaire Kim Song-su in a colony run by a militarist dictatorship, who can you believe? I guess next we’ll be citing the Rodong Shinmun as evidence that Megumi Yokota really is dead. At any rate, I’ll grant for the moment that the Dong-A Ilbo report (as well as the “many other newspaper articles”) may be factually accurate. After all, I’ve read stories about Korean police conducting campaigns to make drivers respect the stop line. I’ve even seen said campaign with my own two eyes. Back to the point, however, both US Army documents (including the one cited in the ad) and testimonies by former comfort women indicate that many of the women who ended up in the camps were tricked into it. So if those directives were “dutifully carried out,” as the ad claims, even the documentary evidence it cites later on (albeit for a different point) says otherwise. Of course, the number of women in the reports and testimonies, even if completely reliable, are only a fraction of the number who served as “comfort women,” so it’s hard to compute actual percentages, and I seriously doubt we’ll ever find actual statistics in whatever Japanese records may have survived the flames of late August 1945.
Going on, from Fact 3:
There were admittedly cases, though, of breakdowns in discipline.
You don’t say. Again, the two reports suggest and testimonies suggest many women were working against their will, and the officers responsible were not punished ? in the Burma camp, the colonel in charge of the camp deserted to avoid enemy capture, while there is no mention of the fate of the commanding officers in the Chinese camp in the part of the report I’ve seen. Since they bring up the Indonesian case, however, it does beg the question, as commenter Jing once pointed out, whether serving as a “comfort woman” counts as “rape” only when it involves white women. From Yuki Tanaka (or a review thereof):
Why did the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal hear mass evidence regarding the ill-treatment, rape and murder of Allied soldiers and civilians and fail to consider evidence of systemic crimes against ‘comfort’ women? One explanation, Tanaka suggests, is that as most of the ‘comfort’ women were ‘Asian’, rather than Western?the largest exception being Dutch women in the Dutch East Indies?the invisibility of the ‘comfort’ women provides further evidence supporting the ‘absence of Asia’ remarks often made about the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, where both the aggrieved and those giving justice tended to be Western (p. 87). Yet Tanaka does not reconcile this argument with earlier discussion regarding the ‘various testimonies presented at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal regarding the Rape of Nanjing’ (p. 29). He admits that details regarding the rape of Dutch civilian women in March 1942, for example, were raised at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal but argues this was only to provide evidence that crimes had been committed against Allied civilians (pp. 61-3). A more concrete example of the fixation with Western victims, Tanaka suggests, can be seen in the proceedings of the Batavia War Crimes Tribunal, which was conducted by Dutch authorities in February 1948. In one case this tribunal tried twelve Japanese in relation to the forced prostitution of Dutch women held in internment camps in Semarang, Java in 1943 (p. 76). Although Tanaka does not make it clear, the basis of the Dutch prosecution seemed to be the Geneva Convention of 1929. While not a signatory to the convention, Japan had given a qualified promise to follow the Geneva rules in 1942, one of which prohibited forced prostitution of prisoners-of-war. Disappointingly, Tanaka does not pursue a line of inquiry as to whether Indo-Dutch, Indonesian, Filipino, or perhaps even Korean, ‘comfort’ women could have had a similar status to the Dutch as prisoners-of-war during this period. He merely notes that the Dutch authorities questioned Indonesian, Indo-Dutch and Chinese ‘comfort’ women about their experiences in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies but that only two cases involving non-Dutch women were ever raised at the Batavia War Crimes Tribunal (pp. 78-9). While it might be expected that a separate Dutch war crimes inquiry would focus on Dutch women in this manner, Tanaka seems to imbue the Batavia War Crimes Tribunal with responsibility for a regional jurisdiction, to which it failed to respond adequately. It appears to Tanaka, therefore, that the victimisation of predominantly Asian ‘comfort’ women inevitably took second-place to other war crimes investigated and prosecuted by the Allies.
However, Tanaka’s primary argument is that the Allied nations’ own ‘sexual ideology’?their treatment of non-Western women prior to the war, their practice and attempt to cover-up military-controlled prostitution during the war and their complicity in the establishment of a similar ‘comfort’ system for Allied personnel during the Occupation in Japan?is a telling factor in the lack of Allied prosecution (p. 87). Regarding the Dutch East Indies, for example, Tanaka argues that as the Dutch sexually exploited large numbers of Indonesian women while a colonial power in the region, it followed that the sexual abuse of Indonesian and Indo-Dutch women by the Japanese would probably not have been viewed by the Dutch as a serious crime (p. 82). During the war itself, Tanaka clarifies that the Allied ‘sexual ideology’ made it ‘quite natural that [the Allies] were completely unable to discern the criminal nature of the comfort women system’ (p. 109). As the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of Japan, John Dower, notes in a short review printed on the back of the volume, this is a ‘stunning and controversial’ new direction of analysis.
About Fact 4: I find it interesting that it starts by pointing out that the “comfort women” testimony itself supports the notion that the Japanese military did not directly impress women into sexual slavery, but then points out that the women’s testimony is unreliable because it has changed “since the start of the anti-Japanese campaign.” So, are we then to take it that the testimony that they weren’t whisked away by the Japanese Army is reliable, but tales of abuse aren’t?
From Fact 5:
The iafu who were embedded with the Japanese Army were not, as is commonly reported, “sex slaves.” They were working under a system of licensed prostitution that was commonplace around the world at the time. Many of the women, in fact, earned incomes far in excess of what were paid to field officers and even generals (as reported by the United States Office of War Information, Psychological Warfare Team Attached to US Army Forces, India-Burma Theater APO 689) and there are many testimonies attesting to the fact that they were well treated.
This is the most offensive part, IMHO, owing particularly to that last line ? well treated, indeed! It also indicates that the ad goes beyond the usual “redefining coercion” (unless, of course, it’s to redefine “coercion” away from “tricked into it by local pimps,” as I’d like to think Shinzo Abe meant it, to “coerced by poverty”) to present the comfort women as highly paid, well-treated prostitutes. The odd thing is, even the report the ad itself chose to cite (which, coincidentally, I don’t entirely trust ? the “personality” description leads me to wonder about the individual who wrote it) to prove how well-paid they were ALSO indicates that many of the women at the Burma camp that was surveyed were deceived into their positions, contradicting Fact 2. Sorry for re-citing, but:
Early in May of 1942 Japanese agents arrived in Korea for the purpose of enlisting Korean girls for “comfort service” in newly conquered Japanese territories in Southeast Asia. The nature of this “service” was not specified but it was assumed to be work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, and generally making the soldiers happy. The inducement used by these agents was plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, easy work, and the prospect of a new life in a new land, Singapore. On the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen.
So, is this the form of “licensed prostitution that was commonplace around the world at the time?” Tricking girls to Southeast Asia with false advertisements and putting them to work as prostitutes serving the army of the colonial overlord once they got there? And even if it were, would the fact that other colonial powers took sexual advantage of colonial women make Japan’s behavior any better? Would the fact that both Japan and Korea continued the practice for US troops after the war make a difference? I don’t think so.
Also from Fact 5:
There are records of soldiers being punished for acts of violence against the women. Many countries set up brothels for their armies, in fact, to prevent soldiers from committing rape against private citizens. (In 1945, for instance, Occupation authorities asked the Japanese government to set up hygienic and safe “comfort stations” to prevent rape by American soldiers.)
Where there’s an army base, there’s a brothel. Fine. You can even find brothels in areas with no military presence at all. But if the US had, let’s say, supplied its army brothels in Japan with, say, Filipino women tricked into it by local recruiters while US colonial administrators turned a blind eye, it’s a different story. That’s human trafficking and, yes, sexual slavery. And for what it’s worth, in “Embracing Defeat,” John W. Dower included a very disturbing account of those “hygienic and safe” comfort stations set up in 1945 (can’t find my copy at the moment) ? if the inclusion of the last sentence was supposed to make be feel better about the comfort women’s plight, it doesn’t.
For the record, I’d think there’s a lot of bullshit going around in Japan, Korea and the United States about the comfort women.
Korea couldn’t have cared less about the comfort women for most of its post-Liberation history (for a number of reasons, including the low social position of women until very recently and the fact that the country was run by Japanese collaborators for much of that history, including 18 years by a man who spent WWII as a second lieutenant in the Japanese Army), and moreover, if it really wanted to be honest about what happened, it would start with the realization that most of the girls were probably sold to the Japanese Army by collaborating Korean brokers.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to make what the current Japanese government (as opposed to the people who ran the ad) is up to, although some of Shinzo Abe’s past statements on the issue don’t bode well. I’m also afraid ? sorry for speculating here ? that if a concrete definition of “coercion” isn’t arrived upon soon, “coercion” might get watered down into “coerced by circumstances like poverty,” which might then lead to claims that since Japan “helped modernize and develop Korea during colonial rule,” those circumstances were “native Korean poverty,” completely absolving Japan of any guilt whatsoever.
Lastly, we have the Americans. I’ve already explained that I think Rep. Honda’s resolution is a bad idea. Like the United States doesn’t have enough to worry about right now that it’s intervening in the interpretation of other countries’ history. I might also add that judging from the US Army reports cited above, the US knew women were being pressed into sexual service, but apparently didn’t feel Asians raping other Asians warranted inclusion in the Tokyo Tribunal. This probably shouldn’t come as a complete surprise ? Washington didn’t feel biological warfare experiments and live vivisections on largely Chinese victims warranted inclusion, either (as long as it got its hands on the data), although abuse of Western POWs did. Moreover, reports indicate US troops would make use of comfort stations during the occupation of Japan and during the Korean War.
In the end, the Korean comfort women suffered abuse at the hands of three governments, including their own.
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000101297
"취업사기에 속아 성노예로 팔려가"
미국서 위안부 강제동원 문건 입수
정진성 교수팀, "위안부 연구와 배상문제에 획기적 자료"
▲ 최근 미국 정부기록보존소에서 발굴한 구 일본군 위안부 관련 자료들을 들어보이는 정진성 교수(왼쪽)와 장태한 교수.
ⓒ 오마이뉴스 공희정
태평양전쟁 당시 일본군에게 성노예 생활을 강요당한 구 일본군 위안부(일명 '정신대')가 일본정부에 의해 강제로, 혹은 취업사기에 속아서 끌려갔음을 입증하는 문서가 미국서 발견돼 이 분야 연구와 배상문제에 중요한 자료로 활용될 것으로 보인다.
또 태평양전쟁 당시 일본 기업들이 노무자들을 위해 한국과 중국의 여성들을 위안부로 공급, 운영해온 사실을 구체적으로 입증하는 자료도 함께 공개됐다.
한국인 성노예 문제를 연구해온 미국 리버사이드 캘리포니아대학 장태한 교수(인종학)와 서울대 여성연구소 정진성 교수(사회학) 등 한-미-일 연구팀은 3일 오후 2시 30분 서울 태평로 세실레스토랑에서 기자회견을 갖고, '미 연방정부 기록보존소(NARA)'에서 발굴한 자료를 공개했다.
이들은 또 지난해 일본 시민단체의 도움을 받아 현지조사를 통해 수집한 '기업위안소' 관련 자료와 일본 후쿠오카 지역의 기업위안소 사진도 같이 공개했다.
"구 일본군 성노예 강제동원 입증 문건"
▲ 미 연방정부 기록 보관소에서 발굴한 'Kunming-REL-OP-3' 자료. 붉은 테를 두른 부분은 한국 여성들이 강제로 위안부로 끌려간 사실을 언급한 부분임.
이번에 공개된 자료는 1945년 8월 15일 종전 직후 미군에 생포된 일본군인, 한국군인, 징용자 그리고 10명의 한국인 위안부 여성들에 대한 신상카드와 포로심문에 관한 자료들 속에서 발견된 것. 이들은 필리핀으로 끌려간 위안부들로서 지금까지 알려지지 않은 새로운 자료도 포함되어 있다.
정 교수팀이 '미 연방정부 기록보존소'에서 발굴한 파일명 'Kunming-REG-OP-3'에 따르면, 구 일본군 위안부는 일본정부가 강압적 또는 사기에 의해 이뤄진 것으로 나타났다.
"중국 쿤밍의 예난 군화중학교에 위치한 중국 군 본부에 25명의 한국인(여성 23명, 남성2명), 대만 남성 1명, 그리고 81명의 일본인(여성 4명, 남성 77명)이 전쟁포로로 잡혀 있었다. 한국인 포로와 일본인 포로의 태도와 증언은 다르며 대조적이다.
한국인 포로들은 모두 일본 부대로부터 도망 나왔으며, 중국 부대에 자발적으로 투항했다. 한국인들의 민족주의 정신은 의심할 여지가 없으며, 그들은 자발적으로 정보를 제공했다.
황남석 부인을 제외한 나머지 22명의 한국인 여성들은 모두 성노예(위안부)였다. 그들은 강압(compulsion), 그리고 사기(misrepresentation)에 의해 성노예가 되었다. 1943년 7월 한국을 출발한 15명의 여성들은 싱가포르에 있는 일본 공장에서 일할 사람을 모집하는 한국 신문에 난 광고를 보고 왔다. 약 300여 명의 여성들이 비슷한 사기로 성노예로 모집되어 왔다."
정 교수팀은 이외에도 필리핀 루손섬의 포로수용소에서 작성된 것으로 보이는 포로명단 중 한국인 여성 42명의 신상카드도 찾아냈다. 정 교수는 "신상카드는 한국인, 대만인, 일본인 성노예 명단이 따로 작성됐던 것으로 보인다"면서 "한국인 성노예 명단을 찾기 위해 118개의 상자와 20000여 신상카드를 조사했다"고 밝혔다.
▲ 한 한국인 위안부 여성의 신상카드. 정면, 측면 얼굴사진과 열손가락 지문, 그리고 기타 인적사항 등이 기록돼 있다.
신상카드에는 이들의 국적이 '한국(Korean)'으로 명시돼 있고 주소, 나이, 직업, 교육 정도 등이 기재돼 있으며, 직업은 대부분 웨이트리스(Waitress)나 엔터테이너(entertainer)로 돼 있다.
신상카드에 기재된 여성 중에는 지금까지 확인된 것 중 가장 고학력자도 포함돼 있다. '소세란 오미나'라는 이름의 이 여성은 대구에서 고등학교 1학년을 다니다가 끌려가 성 노예가 된 것으로 지금까지 전혀 알려지지 않은 케이스다.
이밖에도 한 중국인 기자가 쓴 '비루마(버마)전선 종군기'라는 책에 포함된 '타타미'라는 일본군 연대장의 위안부 관련 '일기'도 공개됐다.
▲ 소화15년(1940년) 당시 일본기업의 '기업위안소' 운영을 입증해 주는 자료.
"1944년 4월 16일 싱가포르에 도착하여 일본인이 경영하는 호텔에 투숙한 후 연금되어 있던 영국 소녀를 불러 욕실에서 등을 밀게 했다. 결국 해상에서 반달동안의 성욕을 해결했다. 오후에는 꽃과 같은 미모의 프랑스 여자 애를 호텔에 불러 음주 시중을 시키고 밤에 그녀를 묵게 해 함께 밤을 새우다."
정 교수는 "일본군은 한국인과 대만인 이외에도 유럽인들까지 성노예로 끌어 들였다는 것을 간접적으로 시사하는 것"이라며 "지속적인 조사 활동을 통해 이를 입증할 것"이라고 밝혔다.
일본기업들, '기업위안부'로 식민지 여성 동원
한편 태평양전쟁 당시 일본기업들이 '기업위안소'를 운영해왔다는 사실을 입증할 자료도 공개됏다. 이 자료들은 1940년에 작성된 일본 육군성 정비국 전비과 문서와 대동아성 기획원 각의 결정문서, 당시 내무성에서 발간한 문서 등이다.
특히 이번에 공개된 자료 가운데는 1939~40년의 일본신문 자료, 일본시민단체가 소장하고 있던 자료도 포함되어 있다.
1940년 육군성이 홋카이도(北海島)탄광주식회사 자료과장 앞으로 보낸 문서를 보면, "탄광 내 노무자들의 생산성 제고를 위해 조선과 중국의 창부를 유치할 것"이라는 귀절이 보인다.
▲ 태평양전쟁 당시 구 일본군이 화폐 대신 사용한 '금권'
정진성 교수는 "기업위안부들은 낮에는 노동을 했고 밤에는 '위안부'로 활동했으며, 노동자 1천 명당 20여명의 위안부가 동원됐을 것으로 추정된다"며 "대략 1만5000명~2만 명 정도가 '기업위안부'로 동원됐던 것으로 보인다"고 말했다.
일본기업의 성노예 운영 사실 자체는 이미 공개된 것이다. 그러나 그동안 사회적, 학문적 관심이 일본군 성노예 문제에 치우친 나머지 일본기업의 성노예 문제는 사실상 사각지대로 남아 왔다.
또 1942년, 1943년에 작성된 대동아성 기획원 문서에는 "노동자 부족문제를 해결하기 위해 중국 화북지방에서 노동자들을 도입하되 이들을 위해 위안부를 수반해야 한다"는 각료회의 결정문이 들어있다.
정 교수는 "특히 대동아성의 문서에는 '세탁부 등의 명목으로 위안부들을 합법적으로 데려올 것'이라는 내용이 포함돼 있다"면서 "일본정부는 위안부를 동원하기 위해 앞장서 사기를 친 것"이라고 말했다.
이밖에 1939년 당시 일본의 오타루(小樽)지방의 한 신문에 실린 "기업에서 북해도청에 위안소 설치를 허가해 달라는 청원을 내 조만간 허가가 날 것"이라는 내용의 기사도 공개됐다.
"구 일본군 성노예 강제동원 체계적 연구 계기될 것"
▲ 일본기업들이 훗카이도 탄광지역에 운영하던 위안소들. 아직도 당시 건물이 남아 있다.
일본정부는 지금까지 구 일본군 위안부의 존재를 인정하면서도 강제동원 문제에 대해서는 강하게 부인해 왔다. 하지만 이번에 제3자인 미군의 기록에 의해 일본군 성노예의 '강압성'이 확인된 만큼 향후 이를 놓고 일본정부와 논란이 예상된다.
장태한 교수는 "미군 기록의 객관성과 공신력으로 볼 때 충분한 자료가치가 있다고 판단된다"며 "앞으로 기업위안부나 군 위안부에 대한 추가적인 자료확보 노력을 계속할 것"이라고 말했다.
일본기업의 '기업위안소' 운영을 입증할 자료를 발굴한 것과 관련, 정진성 교수는 "일본 내에서는 지난 1992년 이후 시민단체들을 중심으로 꾸준히 이 문제가 논의돼 왔으나 우리 나라에서는 별다른 연구가 진행되지 못했었다"면서 "이번에 발굴한 자료를 기초로 위안부 문제 연구에 새로운 계기를 마련하게 됐다"고 밝혔다.
정 교수는 특히 "앞으로 연구결과에 따라 당시 '기업위안부'로 일했던 피해 여성들이 일본기업들을 상대로 민·형사소송도 가능할 것으로 보인다"고 말했다.
"위안부 자료발굴 1등공신은 미 연방정부 합동조사단"
장태한, 정진성 교수팀이 '미 연방정부 기록보존소(NARA)'에서 일본군 성 노예 강제 동원을 입증할 자료와 일본기업의 '기업위안소' 운영을 확인할 수 있게 된 배경에는 IWG(Interagency Working Group)의 역할이 컸다.
IWG는 나치 및 그 동맹국들의 전범 기록 조사를 위해 미국 정부가 1999년 발족시킨 연방정부 합동조사단을 말한다.
IWG는 백악관, 국가안보회의, 국무부, 국방부, 법무부, 중앙정보국(CIA), 연방수사국(FBI), 국립문서보관소 등의 100여명의 정부 관료와 외부 전문가들로 구성된다. IWG의 단장은 NARA의 3인자인 부부소장이 맡는다.
IWG는 나치 전범자료 조사가 일단락됨에 따라 2000년 5월부터 일제 전범기록 조사에 착수, 관계 비밀문서의 비밀해체 작업을 벌이고 있다.
IWG는 같은 달 일제 전쟁범죄 전문가인 역사학자 린다 홈즈 여사를 IWG 역사위원에 임명, 일본 전범행위에 대한 역사적 배경과 내용에 대한 조사요원들의 이해를 돕도록 하고 있기도 하다.
한편 미국 연방정부 기록보존소(NARA)는 한국의 정부기록보존소에 해당하는 기관으로, 독립적인 연방정부 기구다. 미국 문서뿐 아니라 미군이 외국에서 전쟁중에 입수한, 소위 '노획문서'도 함께 보관돼 있다.
제2차 세계대전 이후의 군 관계 문서는 원칙적으로 메일랜드 주에 있는 제2 정부기록보존소에 소장돼 있다.
일제 강점기 조선은 물론 한국전쟁이나 한일 국교정상화 등 한국 현대사 연구에 필요한 자료들도 보관하고 있어 역사 연구에 있어 세계사적 의미를 갖는 중요한 기관이다. / 공희정 기자
Anyway, I’ll let the commentors have fun with this.
111111111
{ 54 comments… read them below or add one }
1 cm June 18, 2007 at 1:02 am
Notice how they tried to placate the Dutch (I would say it’s a tactic of appealing and getting approval from the Western senses) by saying “yes admittedly, there were some rape of Dutch women -we’re sorry about that- but we stopped it in time. But as for those Asian women, they’re all lying because they were all well paid whores ? don’t believe them”.
As for Honda, I do agree with you, he should not have brought up the issue since it’s not a pressing matter for the US. But I do understand where he’s coming from. His family probably suffered from the same injustices (American Internment of Japanese Americans) as these women, and feel that justice should be universal. I applaud the man, although his methods are not good.
2 Richardson June 18, 2007 at 2:25 am
This post is about as fair, balanced, and reality-based as it’s going to get; not as bad as the Koreans claim, but a helluva lot worse than the Japanese and related deniers will ever admit.
3 SweetWater June 18, 2007 at 5:31 am
Did the Japanese government and imperial army order their people to kidnap teenage girls in Korean peninsula to deport them to the “sex slave” camp in the South-East Asia and they successfully destroyed all of the inconvenient documents at the end of the war?
Did the Japanese government and imperial army allocate their precious resources?soldiers and transportations?to kidnap and deport those Korean girls, while their other soldiers were disparately fighting against the U.S. and other allied forces?
Did the Japanese imperial army and its soldiers have a special taste on Korean girls so much that they deported those girls to the south-east Asia even though they could kidnap local girls as easily as they could in Korean peninsula?
Did the Japanese government and imperial army care about their soldiers fighting in the south so much that they sent “sex slaves” instead of sending medical doctors and nurses (and factory workers)?
Did the family members of those Korean girls not protest at all when they found their daughters or sisters disappeared or forcefully taken? Or, did the police stations in Korean peninsula destroy all of the kidnap related (or missing person) documents successfully at the end of the war?
All of the above do not make sense to me. The Japanese soldiers may be dispensable at that time, but, ships and fuels were extremely precious.
One of the possible explanations is that the Japanese government indeed wanted to recruit and transfer nurses and other medical assistants to the south but there were some bad recruiters (possibly both Japanese and Korean) who sold the girls to the comfort station.
4 Paul H. June 18, 2007 at 6:28 am
“But I do understand where he’s coming from. His family probably suffered from the same injustices (American Internment of Japanese Americans) as these women….”
Let’s see if I’ve got this right. American WWII internment of US citizens of Japanese descent = moral equivalent of use of Asian “comfort women” by Japanese military, is that correct?
“….In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act that provided redress for Japanese-Americans. Each living survivor was paid $20,000 for the forced incarceration….”
The Americans paid reparations; the Japanese refused any to their ex-comfort women. But ? maybe you consider that fact a validation of your point.
After all ? if it two situations weren’t equivalent, everyone knows the Americans wouldn’t have paid anything! Is that how you see it?
Help me out, cm; I’m trying to grope towards a clearer understanding of your “universal justice”.
5 wjk June 18, 2007 at 7:23 am
furthermore, the US gave a blanket statement of “US did absolutely wrong by implementing the Japanese internment camp”
could that be possibly 100% true?
No way.
There were people in the US spying for Japan.
War is war. Every war has a spy.
However, the US, after 50 some years, decided not to even excuse itself.
Japan?
Regarding the comfort women,
1. it was done to prevent rape.
2. they were paid better than generals.
3. everything was within internal law and norms.
4. it was legal.
5. did it for peace and justice in the conquered areas.
Bullshit. Eat shit, LDP Japan.
6 michael June 18, 2007 at 8:10 am
That was well-said, especially your conclusion. My two won is that the Japanese gov’t ought to pass legislation like the German Holocaust denial laws that acknowledge basic facts about Japan’s WWII actions and prohibits lawmakers from putting out stupid ads like this in the first place. I know some will say it impinges on freedom of speech, but again as in Germnay this is an area that could use some policing and it’s to Japan’s benefit to maintain an official stance of apology that doesn’t get damaged by successive politicians.
7 Sonagi June 18, 2007 at 9:05 am
“Did the Japanese imperial army and its soldiers have a special taste on Korean girls so much that they deported those girls to the south-east Asia even though they could kidnap local girls as easily as they could in Korean peninsula?”
The whole point of the comfort women system was to discourage soldiers from raping local women. Importing foreign women into Southeast Asia made sense because the women were less likely to run away and because locals would not be outraged by the use of foreign women in the camps.
“Did the Japanese government and imperial army care about their soldiers fighting in the south so much that they sent “sex slaves” instead of sending medical doctors and nurses (and factory workers)?”
There were medical personnel, too. The comfort women were checked periodically by doctors.
“Did the family members of those Korean girls not protest at all when they found their daughters or sisters disappeared or forcefully taken? Or, did the police stations in Korean peninsula destroy all of the kidnap related (or missing person) documents successfully at the end of the war?”
It is likely that families did file missing persons reports and that those reports disappeared. Keeping such records was probably not a high priority during the chaotic period at the end of the war.
8 ponta. June 18, 2007 at 9:16 am
Well reasoned post.
I wish every time Onishi of NYT and the Korea media run an article about the “sex slave” under Japanese rule without mentioning the counterpart on Korean part, and the U.S. part?such articles should be offensive by the same token?-, you remind the readership of the comfort women under Korean government and under the US occupation by running the follow-up post like this.
Though I disagree with some points on the post, I agree that Honda, to whom the large number of Chinese anti-acitivists donate, should not brought up the issue.
I doubt if this ad was useful in any meaningful way.
9 Ut videam June 18, 2007 at 9:25 am
ponta, get off it. The Japanese did wrong by these women.
Others did too, and they should be held accountable. But finger pointing and screaming “They did it too!” every time someone rightly makes an issue of the Japanese wrongdoing?as you and others seem to do every time this issue is discussed?is passing the buck. Others’ wrongdoing does not mitigate or absolve the wrongdoing of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Japanese government. What part of that don’t you understand?!
10 SomeguyinKorea June 18, 2007 at 9:27 am
“Early in May of 1942 Japanese agents arrived in Korea for the purpose of enlisting Korean girls for “comfort service” in newly conquered Japanese territories in Southeast Asia. The nature of this “service” was not specified but it was assumed to be work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, and generally making the soldiers happy. The inducement used by these agents was plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, easy work, and the prospect of a new life in a new land, Singapore. On the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen.”
Not only that, they targeted young single women, most of which were sexually inexperienced. I really doubt many of these young high school girls and young adults thought they would be anything else but nurses or cooks.
11 ponta. June 18, 2007 at 10:42 am
SomeguyinKorea
Thanks
As I said again and again I have no intention to alleviate the responsibility of Japan for the failed system of the comfort station just as Yuki Tanaka and others are not absolving Japan by bringing up the topic of Korean guilt on the matter of comfort women as well as guilt on Japan’s part.
As I said again and again, Japan was mostly blame, and as I understand it, the government stands by the statements made by several PMs.
Korean government hasn’t issued any with regard to the comfort women under her government.
Don’t pass the buck by focusing on only Japan but face to the rest of the story in which Korean brokers continued to hold the same evil practice of Japanese rule even after the “liberation” under Korean
government.
I can understand the complaints that
the ad is not telling the whole story, but by the same token, there should be more complaints about Korean media because they are not telling a story a bit about the crime of the same kind committed under Korea.
If I remember correctly, some Korean people are saying that “the western whores” as Korean people call them voluntarily worked for the UN troops while every comfort women under Japanese rule were constricted forcibly and hence, Koreans are innocent, Japan evil. I don’t understand why people who felt this ad disgusting do not feel the reaction of such Koreans disgusting.
The fact is the evil practice continued in Asia.
We have much to learn form it.
If the same amount of energy and time were spent on the comfort women
under Korean government in Korea, Korea will be much nicer society.
What’s stopping you from making Korea better society?
I am sorry , but the comment like yours make me believe that after all
people accusing Japan’s reaction are not doing it for the victims, but as usual it is just one exemplification of Korean Han culture.
12 globalvillageidiot June 18, 2007 at 10:56 am
“This post is about as fair, balanced, and reality-based as it’s going to get; not as bad as the Koreans claim, but a helluva lot worse than the Japanese and related deniers will ever admit.”
You nailed it right on the head.
13 cm June 18, 2007 at 11:26 am
“As I said again and again, Japan was mostly blame, and as I understand it, the government stands by the statements made by several PMs.”
I find that increasingly hard to believe as the days go by.
14 neastud June 18, 2007 at 11:28 am
Nice post Robert.
Have you ever thought of going out on your own and getting your own blog?
15 Robert Koehler June 18, 2007 at 12:07 pm
neastud ? Thanks.
And according to my monthly credit card statement, this is my blog.
16 SomeguyinKorea June 18, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Well, Ponta.
I don’t believe the Japanese nor the Koreans share some kind of collective guilt. Sure, they need to gaze into the shadow of history (and you could say they are guilty of not having done so with total honesty). But, the argument that the younger generation somehow responsible for events that took place long ago miss a very important fact: they weren’t even born yet. I do believe that Koreans and Japanese who were directly involved in the trafficking of these young women should be prosecuted if they are still alive. The Korean government, on the other hand…It’s a hard sell as there was no Korean government prior to the end of WW2 (the Japanese government, on the other hand…) So, should the Japanese government be made to pay more? Well, they have and they indirectly still do…But, that should be a matter that should brought up to international courts, not the tabloid newspapers.
17 Sonagi June 18, 2007 at 12:35 pm
“there should be more complaints about Korean media because they are not telling a story a bit about the crime of the same kind committed under Korea.”
One cannot lodge a criminal case without victims. To my knowledge, no Korean women have come forward to accuse the Korean government of forcing them into having sex with UN soldiers or American GIs. This is not because Koreans won’t point an accusatory finger at their own government. There have been allegations and charges of political persecution, torture and murderous atrocities during the post-war dictatorships, some resulting in convictions.
18 tomojiro June 18, 2007 at 12:42 pm
“neastud ? Thanks.
And according to my monthly credit card statement, this is my blog.”
Ha,ha,ha
That was funy.
No offense intended neastud.
19 Grumpy June 18, 2007 at 1:14 pm
The Japanese set up “comfort stations” in Japan following the surrender ostensibly to “protect” the Japanese culture from what they expected would be the rape and pillage of all Japanese women by the hairy backed, smelly American occupation forces.
The governement asked Japanese women to “volunteer” for as duty to their country and to protect the race. Many did and as part of their employ were given medical examinations, and contaceptives. It took until the late 1940′s for the morality groups in the US to find out about these little secrets and put the cabbosh on all of the “government sponsored” and endorsed facilities.
20 Grumpy June 18, 2007 at 1:22 pm
What is the Korean government stance on the “steam bath and massage” establishments around all the ROK bases?
Are those women employed by the goverment to provide a service to the military? Is it a contract like the AAFES “steam and creams” that closed in the late 80′s?
Isn’t the anemic enforcement of red light districts, escort services and “happy ending” haircuts all around this country the equivalent of support? Why should we be only worried about the grandmothers who were lied to in the 1940′s?
Oh, I forgot, human rights aren’t an issue with the domestic population or the nK’s.
21 Grumpy June 18, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Sorry, just a bad hair day.
22 michael June 18, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Here you are, an almost identical thread on Digg last month:
http://digg.com/world_news/New_proof_of_Japanese_World_War_II_sex_slaves
Around and around you go.
23 ponta. June 18, 2007 at 3:36 pm
SomeguyinKorea
Thanks.
The Korean government, on the other hand…It’s a hard sell as there was no Korean government prior to the end of WW2 (the Japanese government, on the other hand…)
I am not mainly talking about Korean brokers under the Japanese rule. Sure Japan was mostly blame for that period.
But notice before and after Japanese rule, there have been Korean brokers trading the Korean women.
During Korean War, and around the A-town, there have been Korean brokers abusing the Korean women.
During Korean war, Korean troop was directly involved with setting up the brothels, and administration recruited the sex slave.
And
What distinguishes American Town from the other camp towns is its physical isolation?it is completely walled off, with a guard posted at the gate?and its”incorporated” status. American Town is not simply a place; it is a corporation, with a president and board of directors who manage all the businesses and people living and working in it. The corporation headquarters occupies a small building within the walled compound. Originally, the Town was constructed in the early-to-mid 1970s through funds from both the local government and Seoul….The”debt bondage system” is the most prominent manifestation of exploitation….women cannot leave prostitution at will….Poverty, together with low class status, has remained the primary reason for women’s entry into camp town prostitution from the 1950s to the mid-1980s…Still others were physically forced into prostitution by flesh-traffickers or pimps who waited at train and bus stations, greeted young girls arriving from the countryside with promises of employment or room and board, then”initiated” them?through rape?into sex work or sold them to brothels.
(Sex among allies)
This is exactly the same system Japan employed.
Some say it is a legacy of Japan, but that is absurd. Why the hell do Korean people have to imitate things they abhor and blame so fervently?
Even the ad admits the women suffered greatly and they cotemplate the tragedy
with profound regret.
Don’t you think those victimized women under Korean government need apology?
Or is keeping ignoring the issue as Korean media and government is doing the best defence because if the Korean media does not pick up the blog like this will not pick up and you can keep nitpicking Japan’s reaction?
Really I want to ask.
What are people trying to do?
Are they trying to help the vicims?
Then why not help the victims who are Korean brethren vicimized by Korea?
Are they trying to set history correct?
Then why not face Korean history after liberation in which the Korea women were abused in the same way as under Japanese rule ?
Japan and Korea and the US has someting in common?the abuse of the women by military?then here is something we can work together without falling into the prey of nationalism.
24 abcdefg June 18, 2007 at 4:19 pm
ponta,
not that i accept the basic framework of your comments, but think of this in terms of civillian murder. koreans murder koreans. americans murder americans. however it is something different when something as variable as tourist-from-foreign-nation-x murders a civillian or someone you know. people don’t feel as disposed to accept such general human ills as homicide when its source is a social variable ? a guy who shouldn’t have been in town in the first place. it’s, however, worse if this guy is in town because his nation imperalized yours and the whole nine. it’s worse if his nation is proud of exactly that imperialism, if this nation goes out of its way to “pass the buck” as a political norm and so on. i think it’s a little racist, but that’s just me. anyway, there is good grounds to seperate these issues and treat them as their own, respectively. there’s no need for such conflations.
25 dogbertt June 18, 2007 at 4:51 pm
however it is something different when something as variable as tourist-from-foreign-nation-x murders a civillian or someone you know. people don’t feel as disposed to accept such general human ills as homicide when its source is a social variable ? a guy who shouldn’t have been in town in the first place.
You mean, like Cho Seung-hui?
26 ponta. June 18, 2007 at 5:03 pm
abcdefg
Thanks
If you want to say it was wrong for Japan to colonize Korea. I agree. And you can keep complaining as many Korean people are doing. Japan was evil and Japan is evil, and Japan will be evil?I don’t think I would like to change that Korean perception?that seems to be a matter of ethnic identity.
But think of it; Does it matter for the women victimized? what is the difference between a woman victimized by Korean brokers under Japanese rule and a woman vicitimized by Korean brokers under Korean governmen/troop?
What is the difference between a woman raped by Japanese soldiers and a woman raped by Korean or American soldiers.
get;
Korean comfort stations and brothel around American town might not have been as bad as the feminists claim, but I guess ,a helluva lot worse than the Koreans and Americans and related deniers will ever admit.
I think there is very strong biased force going on in Korea against Japan.
When there is ad that does not tell a whole story about the comfort station published by Japanese it is offending.
When there is no story published about Korean comfort women vitimized under Korean government, it is not offending, or nobody pick it up, complete silence.
Who can not see their real motivation of accusing Japan?
27 abcdefg June 18, 2007 at 5:42 pm
d,
the peculiar feature of american ideology and life is that a major part of it is its immigrants, its 1st and 1.5 generation residents who work, grow up, toil and find a way in america as a permanent home. this aspect is in a sense invariable and quite unlike the variable “tourist” my comment presumes above. so, no, it’s not like cho seung hui.
ponta,
i’m sure japanese don’t deflect, generalize, or even “koreanize” what they do because they are so concerned with the welfare of the individuals who sufferred as a result of their or any war, without regard to nation, race, or ethnicity. you may be but your government has other concerns. it’s true, i tend to view the japanese agenda of “passing the buck” or conflating rather seperate issues as a racist agenda, and it seems twofold: 1) minimize the bad in the wars japan has waged. 2) demonize koreans in the process. i’m not sure which of two is more thoroughgoing or deeprooted in japanese society. when j nationalists are so insistent on deflecting the issue, they seem to do it for no other purpose.
I think there is very strong biased force going on in Korea against Japan.
it’s called being colonized. korea’s culture viz japan is postcolonial. as such, it’s political in nature (vs ethnic) and can’t be understood fully without a view to this context. i’m not sure if concerned japanese understand this. but, nonetheless, there’s no reason we need to make a particular issue a general one or extend it to other issues. i’m not sure if that’s logically valid.
also, as long as japan continues to tender politics as it does, certain wounds will stay open. who should be criticized in this context? i’m not sure if it matters.
28 ponta. June 18, 2007 at 6:20 pm
abcdefg
thanks.
i tend to view the japanese agenda of “passing the buck” or conflating rather seperate issues as a racist agenda, and it seems twofold: 1) minimize the bad in the wars japan has waged. 2) demonize Koreans in the process.
So
(1)do you think if korea did the wrong of the same kind , Japanese wrong will be minimized?
So
(2)do you think Korean people are trying to demonize Japan in the process of helping the former comfort women?
I really wonder what this complete apathy among people related to Korea toward the comfort women victimized under Korean government is.
when it comes to Japan, people bother to check the facts, saying “hey this is not the whole story, they are denier etc”.When it comes to Korea, since Korean media or Onishi of NYT are determined to be silent, nobody in Korea care, everyone in Korea wants to forget. Are those who ignore the crime better than those who do not tell the whole story?
When the the issue came out in Japan, Japanese activists visited korea to search for the former comfort women:it is not that first the former comfort women came forward and the issue came out, the truth is the other way around.
why not search for the former comfort women victimized under Korea? They should be much younger. what is clear is Korean (local) government recruited Ianfu, comfort women as Occidentalism pointed out.
Feminist’s description of comfort station druing Korean War and brothels around American town are exactly like the ones under Japanese rule. They might not be totally right. You can check it. I won’t call you a Holocaust denier for doing that. You may disagree with them.
But the fact that there are various interpretations does not mean the government does not, or needs not hold responsibility, in particular when the government makes her position clear. Korean government can make her position clear, and Korean people can make their own government do that for their own people.
29 abcdefg June 18, 2007 at 7:19 pm
“do you think if korea did the wrong of the same kind , Japanese wrong will be minimized?”
? something will change. the strong view of japan as a uniquely evil nation (with regard to comfort woman at least) will be void, for one. but i think the central historical question of interest is whether the systematic rape of various women by japanese is due to wilful japanese administration as a primary cause and not as a trivial side effect where one is basically saying “japan raped but that’s what everybody was doing, and that’s what the girls were for.” what the reality, historically, here can turn out to be gives us 3 cases. 1 case is the revisionist one you represent. another case is the orthodox korean (chinese and generally western) case. the third is a mixture, but it still implicates japan as a nation that’s got a lot of apologizing to do. that’s 2 of 3 in which japan’s wrongs are not triviliazed.
do you think Korean people are trying to demonize Japan in the process of helping the former comfort women?
if that’s the case, they are demonizing demon actions. which is not bad ? quite unlike the all-purpose racism i see from japanese nationalists every time i visit naver, youtube, occidentalism, or 2ch. monomaniacs they are. their message goes quite beyond comfort women and politics. this last point is very salient here. it’s been noted on this or the other comments page that there was no korean government back then, no lingering political entities that can be held liable. there were, however, koreans but then you are making this a moral and even a genetic, race issue rather than international political one. logically when koreans criticize koreans, they can hold factions, political leaders, or other individuals in condemnation. they cannot hold “koreans” in condemnation. to be totally fair, they can hold their government in the wrong if they or their historians systematically deny the existence of such leaders or groups. but that is not the case.
30 Ut videam June 18, 2007 at 8:40 pm
ponta, I don’t think anyone would disagree (at least, I hope to hell they wouldn’t) that the abuse of women is a bad thing. I think they’d agree that that a government-approved system of such abuse is even worse than isolated incidents of such. Whether it was the Americans, the Japanese, or the Koreans doing it, it was wrong.Okay? No one disagrees with that premise.
But I, for one, am incredibly suspicious of your motives. Because I see you coming around and blowing your trumpet about the Koreans’ and Americans’ comfort stations when (and only when) someone takes Japan to task for theirs.
In fact, the issue at hand isn’t even the existence of the Japanese system. The issue here is the recent denials and revisionism by Japanese academics?and endorsed by some Japanese politicians?stating that coercion didn’t happen, the women were there voluntarily, etc. Their aim is to minimize the culpability of the Japanese military and government.
By coming around and bleating about the Korean and American comfort stations when outrages such as the revisionist ad come to pass, you seem to be defending the mealy-mouthed revisionists. You seem to be attempting to deflect attention from the issue at hand by screaming that others did the same thing. Logic has a name for this: the tu quoque (you too), and it is grouped among the informal fallacies. “Informal” because it doesn’t even address the truth or falsity of the propositions being argued, but rather seeks to distract from those questions of truth and falsity. And “fallacy” because it is a false argument.
Perhaps I’m wrong about your motives, ponta; in fact, I hope so. Perhaps you’re an ardent crusader for vindicating the dignity of the women who have been victims of systematic sex slavery over the years. Perhaps you’re as horrified and revulsed as I am by the revisionists’ attempts to paint these victims as nothing but well-paid whores with second thoughts. I hope so.
But whatever your motives, your drum-banging about the Korean, American, and anyone else’s comfort stations is out of place here. The issue at hand is the Japanese system: it was wrong, and the efforts by some to minimize and justify it are despicable and disgusting.
31 SomeguyinKorea June 18, 2007 at 10:24 pm
“I am not mainly talking about Korean brokers under the Japanese rule. Sure Japan was mostly blame for that period.
But notice before and after Japanese rule, there have been Korean brokers trading the Korean women.”
Well, as far as I know, ‘comfort women’ is a term reserved to the women who were forced into prostitution to service Japanese soldiers. That’s what I was talking about. What has happened after WW2 seems like a totally different issue, although not one of lesser importance.
PS. It’s obvious enough that the Korean government actively supported prostitution in the early years and then turned a blind eye to it in the later. You just have count the number of ‘adult’ establishments that are situated just a stone throw away from the police boxes to see that. Heck, Park Jung Hee has such a place build near the Blue House..and he was killed while entertaining ‘the girls’.
32 ponta. June 19, 2007 at 1:33 am
abcdefg
Thanks.
something will change. the strong view of japan as a uniquely evil nation (with regard to comfort woman at least) will be void,
So after all that is your purpose?
do you think Korean people are trying to demonize Japan in the process of helping the former comfort women?
if that’s the case, they are demonizing demon actions. which is not bad
Hmmm, as expected.
Thanks anyway.
Ut videam
In fact, the issue at hand isn’t even the existence of the Japanese system. The issue here is the recent denials and revisionism by Japanese academics?and endorsed by some Japanese politicians?stating that coercion didn’t happen, the women were there voluntarily, etc. Their aim is to minimize the culpability of the Japanese military and government.
First the ad is not denial. It states there were comfort station.
But, I understand, for instance, the part which says “there are many testimonies attesting to the fact that they were well treated.” is offensive, because it does not tell the whole story.
I guess probably they are talking about the cases like a testimony in Indonesia in which “three Indonesian “victims” who appeared in court as witness, actually testified against the Dutch prosecutors, claiming that, thanks to ishibashi,(Japanese brothel owner?ponta) they had a good life during the war”( page 78 “Japanese comfort woman” Yuki Tanaka)
But we don’t know how many women were like that, as I said, it is imaginable that “many women were made to suffer severe hardships” as the ad said.
And We should keep in mind, as Chung-Hee says,
The majority of the young females recruited as comfort women came from lower classes. Many were deceived by “human traders” who lured them with promises of well-paying jobs only to deliver them to brothels and military comfort stations. Some, however, chose to leave home, not out of economic necessity but in search of independence and freedom from domestic violence against and gendered mistreatment of daughters
In response to the question “Is this the form of “licensed prostitution that was commonplace around the world at the time?” Tricking girls to Southeast Asia with false advertisements and putting them to work as prostitutes serving the army of the colonial overlord once they got there?”
One of the reason Tanaka gives why Dutch didn’t take the local women’s case seriously is because there
were similar brothels, temporary wives
system in colonized Indonesia before Japan invaded it. And under the US occupation, according to Katharine H. S. Moo
Prior to the Korean War, the sex work of camp followers was informally organized and unregulated. The women who sold sex to U.S. occupation forces from 1945 to 1949, who like other camp followers in other lands at other times, followed or greeted troops with willingness to wash laundry, run errands, and provide sex for some form of remuneration?money, food, cigarettes. Prostitution took place in U.S. military barracks in the early years of U.S. military occupation (1945-46) and in shabby makeshift dwellings called panjatjip (literally, houses made of boards). By the late occupation period (1947-49), simple inns or motels (kani hot’el) also became the loci of sexual exchange
The next best thing to marriage is the”contract cohabitation” (kyeyak tonggo), which means that a prostitute and a GI decide to set up house together for an agreed-upon period of time (depending on the soldier’s tour of duty and training schedule). She plays”wife” while he pays her club debt and provides financially for her.
(Sex among allies)
Still others were physically forced into prostitution by flesh-traffickers or pimps who waited at train and bus stations, greeted young girls arriving from the countryside with promises of employment or room and board, then”initiated” them?through rape?into sex work or sold them to brothels
(Katharine H. S. Moon)
Surely hardly anybody can say say they were well treated.
As for my motive, I am not sure. I can
analyze my “true” motive in my own way you can analyze my “true” motive in your way. Maybe it is mixed?I don’t know.
But anyway I am trying to draw the logical conclusion from the issue.
As I said, here are at least two cases in front of us; one is comfort stations under Japanese rule in which the women were abused. Another is the comfort station under Korea government in which
the women were abused in the same way.
The issue is the abuse of women by military.
Japanese activists visited Korea to search for the comfort women, backed up by Japanese activists and Korean organizations, the comfort women came forward and testified.
The Japanese government apologized several times. But many people complain, saying that they was not sincere. The Korean organization prevented the comfort women from receiving the fund from the foundation, saying that they want money from the government.
The Korean government hasn’t apologized.
It seems people are not even informed of the fact. The victims are left helpless.
But Korean media just keep blaming Japan, ignoring the Korean victims after the “liberation”.
What I am saying is that something is wrong here?I feel some biased force is going on here.
SomeguyinKorea
Well, as far as I know, ‘comfort women’ is a term reserved to the women who were forced into prostitution to service Japanese soldiers.
So sadly you are not informed of the fact
“the comfort women”慰安婦ianfu was used for the women to be registered.
“UN Soldier Comfort Women Registration Starts on the 13th”
From the _3th, as planned, the Seoul Metropolitan Police transferred the authority to register comfort women for UN soldiers to the front-line offices of the city’s Social Bureau (UN Soldiers’ Comfort Women VD Control Section).
Officials said, however, that this registration applies to women living with even one foreigner, regardless of legal marital status, and to women working as comfort women for UN soldiers.
http://www.occidentalism.org/?p=567
33 JK June 19, 2007 at 1:58 am
You’re very slithery in your remarks, ponta. But then again, you’re the same guy who once called my own family members in Korea “collaborators” because they were forced to learn Japanese under the colonization in Korea. With that in mind, your recent remarks about the Japanese right-wingers and their denial of Japanese guilt against the Korean comfort women is very well understood.
34 MigukNamja June 19, 2007 at 8:58 am
Robert,
I enjoyed reading this post. It seems like you put a lot of thought and research into it, not to mention that it’s balanced.
Well done, sir
35 MigukNamja June 19, 2007 at 9:14 am
Ponta,
It is true there were and are many in Korea, Japan, the U.S., and other countries alike that are guilt of systematically abusing, raping, and otherwise treating women as less than human beings. However, the specific abuses, motivations, and level of organization are significantly different. Your attempts to confuse the issue by painting all parties with the same brush is naive at best and intentionally deceitful at worst.
The 5 “facts” is a blatant move by the Japanese government* to intentionally mislead others about its past sins. If the Japanese government has not published this document, we would likely not be talking about this subject right now.
I believe it is for this reason ? willful ignorance of past sins ? that many of Japan’s Asian neighbors do not trust the right-wing elements of the Japanese government. Systematic cover-ups send messages of disrespect and contempt to Japan’s neighbors, who rightly fear that future disasters are thus more likely to happen.
Japan should expect no sympathy or open friendship from its neighbors while it continues to act with such blatant disregard for crimes its military and government systematically committed and then denies.
36 ponta. June 19, 2007 at 10:21 am
MigukNamja
Thank you.
the specific abuses, motivations, and level of organization are significantly different. Your attempts to confuse the issue by painting all parties with the same brush is naive at best and intentionally deceitful at worst.
And your proof for that is ?
Or it it just a manifestation of the belief Japan was evil Japan is evil, Japan will be evil , Japan is worst?
evil
37 wjk June 19, 2007 at 12:20 pm
comfort women. To prevent rape.
Human experiments. To better human life.
Annexing Chosun. To better the land of Chosun.
Conquering Korea, China, Vietnam, Burma, Phillipines.
To protect people of yellow skin from the evil white colonists.
THIS is what Japan is playing with.
Fuck Japan.
38 MigukNamja June 19, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Ponta,
Japan is not evil. Please stop acting like a troll.
39 Plunge June 19, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Excellent analysis there Marmot. Amazing how a hanbok clad mound of mush can produce such a well reasoned critique. From the writings of those who shall not be named, I mistakingly thought the wearing of a hanbok immediately meant you were of a subspecies only good for manual labor to the master race. Thanks for the enlightenment.
If I can make it to Korea again, and I am definitely trying to get clearance, dinner is on me. I’ll keep you informed.
40 Robert Koehler June 19, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Thanks, Plunge. Good to hear from you, BTW.
41 ponta. June 19, 2007 at 2:49 pm
MigukNamja
I am sorry if I sounded trolling.
I am asking you substantial argument of your point that “the specific abuses, motivations, and level of organization are significantly different”
42 arthjourneyman June 19, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Wow, a very interesting and powerful discussion with minimal flaming, kudos Marmot’s Hole.
ponta, you have made some interesting points and I’m glad that you post, but I think that the reason why some people are suggesting that you are trying to pass the buck or trolling could be due to the language barrier.
For example, you said:
“I can understand the complaints that
the ad is not telling the whole story, but by the same token, there should be more complaints about Korean media because they are not telling a story a bit about the crime of the same kind committed under Korea.
If I remember correctly, some Korean people are saying that “the western whores” as Korean people call them voluntarily worked for the UN troops while every comfort women under Japanese rule were constricted forcibly and hence, Koreans are innocent, Japan evil. I don’t understand why people who felt this ad disgusting do not feel the reaction of such Koreans disgusting.
The fact is the evil practice continued in Asia.
We have much to learn form it.”
In this case, you could simply have said:
“I can understand the complains of the ad, but some Koreans are just as disgusting because they employed Western whores for UN troops and did not report/apologize for this. Why don’t you criticize these Koreans instead?”
Much shorter and easier to read, and you make the same point without hopefully any hearsay.
If I bungled the whole western whores thing, my apologies, this was a case where I didn’t understand what you were trying to say, other than that the media doesn’t tell the whole truth.
I’m not trying to make fun of you ponta, I really hope you do keep posting, it’s just that I want to really understand your viewpoint and layman such as myself are not that good at understanding articulate English mixed with some Engrish. I also think that’s why perhaps people think you are trolling or something when that’s not your intent. So yeah, just suggesting you to keep your words as simple as possible and short .
Also, hopefully you won’t generalize culture as when you said:
“I am sorry , but the comment like yours make me believe that after all people accusing Japan’s reaction are not doing it for the victims, but as usual it is just one exemplification of Korean Han culture.”
Simply because he is replying his opinion on a subject which is currently being discussed and not going off-topic on other issues, doesn’t justify you passing it off as simply, “it must be Korean Han culture”. That comes across as attempting to demonize Koreans, when there is very little grounds to suggest this.
43 ponta. June 19, 2007 at 11:52 pm
arthjourneyman
thank you very much.
Yes the language barrier must be a big problem. Thank you for pointing it out.
And as for the generalization, yes, if I sounded I overgeneralized, I apologize.
44 Fantasy June 20, 2007 at 12:41 am
“…the belief Japan was evil Japan is evil, Japan will be evil , Japan is worst?”
Ponta,
very few people outside Korea (and possibly China) believe that THE JAPAN OF TODAY is evil. But then the Japan of today is an entirely different country from the Japan of the period ranging from 1931 to 1945, which was indeed an evil nation.
And so was the Germany of that time. There can be no doubt whatsoever about this latter fact, and you would be hard-pressed to find any German at all who would be prepared to dispute that fact. The notion that the Germany of that time was a manisfestation of evil posing as a nation is so prevalent here that those who try to dispute it are not even regarded as wicked but simply as deluded.
I enjoy living in the Germany of today which is simply a different country from the Germany of those days. A contradictory attitude ? Not really, IMHO.
45 Fantasy June 20, 2007 at 1:06 am
The admission that the Germany of the fascist period (and to some extent even the Germany of the period ranging from 1871 to 1918) was a manifestation of evil does not in the least detract from the obvious fact that the Germany of today is a very pleasant place, indeed.
Asian people, Koreans, Japanese and Chinese alike, are too deeply steeped in a sense of historical continuity. This attitude is, of course, rooted in Confucianist thought which emphasises the group (and thus the nation) at the expense of the individual.
I (and most other Germans alive today) have never seriously considered us to stand in the shoes of previous generations of Germans. In my case this is particularly obvious (because I have been adopted from outside the country) but more or less the same goes for the ethnic Germans, as well.
If the Germans of the years between 1933 and 1945 were thugs, so what does that mean for us personally ? We weren’t around then, so why should we get upset ?
The Japan of today is a great country, second in economic power to the US only and very pleasant to live in, whereas the Japan of the past was…
46 Sonagi June 20, 2007 at 1:21 am
post #37:
“Fuck Japan.”
I thought I’d be free of reading kiddie drivel while on summer vacation, but I’d forgotten about those stream-of-consciousness multiple posts at the Marmots.
47 ponta. June 20, 2007 at 4:03 am
Fantacy.
Thank you.
As I said on this thread, I think the colonization was wrong and Japan is to blame for the comfort stations under Japanese rule. And as you know, several PMs apologized for it.
I also agree there is nothing upsetting about the past of Japan, however it is evaluated, since we were not living at that times.
As for how we should look at the times of Imperialism, that is a big issue,and a bit off the topic, so let’s discuss it when some related topics comes up.
48 JK June 20, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Still dodging, eh ponta?
“…nothing upsetting about the past of Japan,”
Surely, you’re joking, ponta.
How is it a “bit off topic”? Looking forward to your answer.
49 ponta. June 20, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Sorry if I failed to convey what I wanted to say.
It was in respond to Fantacy’s comment that”We weren’t around then, so why should we get upset ?” What I wante to say was I agree.
50 Fantasy June 20, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Ponta,
please do not get me wrong ? in no way do I intent to attack Japan, quite the contrary. I believe that post-war Japan has continuously been, is, and will remain a much better place to live than countries such as e.g. South Korea, Mainland China etc. (and maybe even better than Germany, as well).
“And as you know, several PMs apologized for it.”
Yes, Ponta, I am aware of this fact.
The problem is, however, that each and every of these apologies has come over to the public as insincere and opportunistic, at least so it seemed to our Western perception. It is this constant “Yes, we have done that, but then again, we haven’t really” attitude of Japan’s which goes so much on everybody’s nerves. Can you modern Japanese not once clearly state “Yes, Imperial Japan was a rogue state and it has committed disgusting atrocities. Full stop.”? In the same vein in which the Germans have recognised the indisputable fact that their country has started two world wars without provocation or good cause and thus is the prime responsible for the loss of some 10 million lives in WWI and of around 55 million lives in WWII (and, in addition, murdered 6 million people in the concentration camps ? the most awful crime ever committed in history).
The historical facts are crystal-clear regarding these issues ? no ifs, no buts, no cop-outs. Even primary school students in this country are taught extensively about the awful truth. When I was in 1st grade in a regular German primary school as far back as 1971 the teacher dealt with the subject in detail over a period of several weeks. That, of course, was a harassing experience for us six-year olds, but it had to be done. And if I had children of my own I would make sure that they, too, were to be provided with the very same experience.
Maybe we Western people are incapable of understanding the Japanese attitude due to the cultural differences between East Asia and the West ? and I am full well aware that the Koreans and Chinese apply the very same tactics when it comes to their own wrongdoings. In spite of the ostensible animosities between them, the three North-East Asian nations are actually quite similar in many respects.
But all of you are shooting yourselves in the foot as the issues will not come to rest and forgiveness will not be granted unless it is preceded by a straight-forward acceptance and admission of guilt…
Japan would have had the Comfort Women issue off the table for decades if she had freely admitted her unmitigated culpability, coupled with adequate compensation for the victims. But the fact remains that her guilt grows with every day she remains in denial…
51 Ut videam June 26, 2007 at 10:19 am
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK22832220070625?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true
Wonder what the spin doctors will have to say about this?
52 JK June 27, 2007 at 12:15 am
Fantasy, well put in #50!
53 amtak July 3, 2007 at 9:58 am
It seems to me everyone is missing the point. Abe and his foreign minister have been engaged in historical revisionism for a very long time. They are part of a LDP clique to restore Japanese “dignity”, in part by doctoring school textbooks. Their entire position on comfort women, as stated in the Washington Post advert (posted by some of the more extreme LDPs) is to delete discussion of such embarrassing issues from books, so that the next generation will have no knowledge of them whatsoever. If you haven’t noticed, they are also denying in the same fashion that the “Rape of Nanking” ever occurred. One of their main authors on that subject is an academician that the US occupation authority kicked out during the reconstruction peiod (his name is Higashinakano Shudo). Abe’s Foreign Minister is from a family that ran a POW slave labor camp. Currently they are maneuvering to amend Constitution Article 19, which forbids a Japanese military. This is an extreme right wing that is engaged in redirecting the entire course of Japanese relationships, somthing like their militarists did during the interwar period. (In a way, theyremind me of Dubya’s administration.) Denying the existence of comfort women is only one leg of their nationalistic/militaristic strategy. It is pretty dastardly of them, though, to take it out on old women who still bear physical and psychological scars regardless of how Abe parses the issue (as in Clinton/Lowinsky, “it depends on what the meaning of ‘forcing’ is”) ? cf. Abe’s argument with Diet member Ogawa on YouTube.
54 amtak July 6, 2007 at 4:24 am
Ooops. Mea culpa, with apologies. In #53 above I mistakenly said that historical revisionist Higashinakano Shudo was barred by US occupation authorities post-World War II. Actually it was his colleague and fellow revisionist Tanaka Masaaki. Both have written books claiming that the “Rape of Nanking” never happened, that instead it was propaganda; and that the 141 photographs of atrocities there were faked or taken elsewhere at other times. As to the WaPo advert, I am informed by the WaPo advertising department that it was paid for from Tokyo, by a committee of the so-called “Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact”. For an adventure in disinformation that would please Joseph Goebbels, check out their website: http://www.sdh-fact.com and read their mission statement. Then click the link to “publications” and you can read synopses of the whacky theories behind the WaPo advert.
http://www1.kjclub.com/jp/exchange/exchange/read.php?tname=exc_board_26&uid=37291&fid=37291&thread=1000000&idx=1&page=19&number=27904
'미 연방정부 기록보존소'에서 발굴한 파일명 'Kunming-REG-OP-3'에 따르면, 구 일본군 위안부는 일본정부가 강압적 또는 사기에 의해 이뤄진 것으로 나타났다.
미국이 작성한 보고서에 따르면,
1943년 7월 한국을 출발한 15명의 여성들은 싱가포르에 있는 일본 공장에서 일할 사람을 모집하는 한국 신문에 난 광고를 보고 왔다. 약 300여 명의 여성들이 비슷한 사기로 성노예로 모집되어 왔다.-라고 한다.
그렇다면, 누가 신문에 사기 모집 광고를 걸었을까?
1940년 육군성이 홋카이도(北海島)탄광주식회사 자료과장 앞으로 보낸 문서를 보자,
문서에 따르면"탄광 내 노무자들의 생산성 제고를 위해 조선과 중국의 여자를 유치할 것"이라는 귀절이 보인다.
여기서 의문!
위안부 제도는 전쟁터에 있는 군인들의 민간인 강간 범죄를 막기위해서 만든 것-라고 일본인은
자랑스럽게 말하는데, 일반 일본의 기업에서도 위안소를 만들었다는 사실을 보면,
일본은 위안부를 단순한 「남성 노무자의 업무 생산성을 증대하기 위해서 동원하는」으로
보았다는 것이다. 즉. 최소한의 필요(군인들의 강간 범죄 억제하기 위한 것) 때문에
동원된 것이 아니라, 타국 여성들을 성 노예화 했다는 것을 알 수 있다.
또 1942년, 1943년에 작성된 대동아성 기획원 문서에는
"노동자 부족문제를 해결하기 위해 중국 화북지방에서 노동자들을 도입하되 이들을 위해 위안부를 수반해야 한다"는 각료회의 결정문이 들어있다.
즉, 일본 정부가 위안부들을 모집할 것을 지도해, 장려했다는 뜻이다.
특히 대동아성의 문서에는 「세탁부 등의 명목으로 위안부들을
합법적으로 데려올 것」이라는 내용이 포함되어 있다.
즉, 일본은 군대에 의한 민간인 강간을 막기위해서 위안소를
만든 것이 아니라, 「타국 여성을 성 노예화 하기 위해서」
일본 기업에도 위안소를 설치하고,
또한 그 모집과 응모에 있어서, 일본 군과 일본 정부가 개입하고 있었으며,
(일본 군대가 일본 기업에게 위안소 설치를 요구하는 문서 etc)
위안소에 넣을 여자들을 모으기 위해서, 일본 정부와 일본 군대는
조선과 중국에서 「취업 사기」를 합법화 하고 있었다는 내용입니다.
위안부 모집이면서 위안부 모집이라고 말하지않고,
간호사 조수, 군수 공장 같은 모집이라고 속였지요
실제로 당사자 일본군들은 「내가 만난, 그 때 그 부대에 있었던...」
조선인 여자 아이들이 모두 속아서 왔다고 말하고 있었다고 증언밖에
없지요.........................................................................
다시 한번,
특히 대동아성의 문서에는
「세탁부 등의 명목으로 위안부들을 합법적으로 데려올 것」이라는 내용이 포함되어 있다.
ソウル大の鄭鎮星ら、日本政府が強制連行した証拠資料Kunmin-REG-OP-3を発見。(2003/1/3)
本当に教授チームが '米連邦政府記録保存所'で掘り出したファイル名 'Kunming-REG-OP-3'によれば, 句日本軍慰安婦は日本政府が強圧的または買うのに義解成り立ったことで現われた.
出処
"就職詐欺（士気）にだまされて性的奴隷に売られて"米国で慰安婦強制動員文書入手
反論
日 証拠として赤枠で示されている英文を読むと騙されたという記述はあるが、日本政府が強制連行したという記述は存在しない。※全文は不明。
ログ
日 [thistory:1824578]
備考
「Kunming-REL-OP-3」とする表記もあり。
No comments:
Post a Comment