The Comfort Women of WWII

Maija Rhee Devine, presented at the Royal Asiatic Society on "The Comfort Women of WWII". The write-up of her presentation follows:

"Who were they? Sex slaves, prostitutes, or kidnapped girls forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers? Since their stories jumped into the spotlight in the early 1990s—after over forty years of silence—controversies have embroiled the issue. Conflicting conjectures continue. How many comfort women were there? What were their lives like before, during, and after their time as comfort women? How should we teach future generations about this chapter of WWII history? 

Presenting the issues from multiple viewpoints, this lecture will provide images and testimonies of the women themselves as well as the historical, political, and societal context in which women and girls in Korea and other Asian countries became comfort women. What role did a Confucian patriarchal way of life and the political and socio-economic distress resulting from poverty, war, and Japanese colonial rule play in tens of thousands of women and girls being led away and coerced into providing sex to Japanese soldiers? 

What happened to the Korean, Chinese, Filippina and other Comfort Women after WWII ended? Their struggles to return home, the conflicted, less than warm reception of them by their families and societies, and efforts to strike out on their own will be evoked. Discussion of the controversies surrounding the Japanese apology and compensation issues will complete the lecture."

A Korean-born author, Maija Rhee Devine earned a B.A. from Sogang University in Seoul and received a Fulbright award to complete an M.A. at St. Louis University in Missouri. She taught English as a Second Language at numerous universities in the U.S.A. as well as Asian culture courses at University of Kansas. Her book, The Voices of Heaven, won four book awards in 2014, and her short stories and poems have appeared in anthologies and literary journals including Michigan Quarterly, The North American Review, and The Kenyon Review. Her current projects include authoring a novel and a non-fiction historical narrative about Korean Comfort Women of WWII. She teaches a course on Comfort Women through the Osher Institute at University of Kansas.

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Notes from the lecture:

When Maija introduced her book, The Voices of Heaven, she referred to it as "절작",  which roughly translates as "piece of crap", 절 being "of low quality". To boast or speak pridefully of one's work or self is to bring bad luck, traditional Korean thinking, and so her popular written work is 절작. 

Not much good can be said of the Japanese institution of comfort stations, so in trying to find something that would break up the somber tone, Maija looked for humor. The only humor she found on the topic is, according to her long research, she found that in the 15th century the Japanese were very concerned about procreating or disease transmission or maybe both that they were the first to make condoms. They made them out of tortoise shell and deer horn. Ingenious but sounds painful, so she is thankful that the comfort women of WWII didn't have to use, wash out, and re-use those kinds of condoms.

• Japan had comfort stations in 12 countries and territories controlled by them. Okinawa alone had 134 comfort stations.

• Chastity knives were carried by women of the Joseon Dynasty, and often the knife was concealed as their hair pin. Women were expected to use these knives to prevent being defiled. "Women lived with the utmost responsibility to keep themselves chaste for men."

• The number of Korean women who served as comfort women? The highest number is 200,000 and has been proposed by Japanese Professor Yoshimi Yoshiyaki. The lowest number is 20,000 proposed by Korean researchers. Ironic that Korean researchers in researching the insults of Japan to their country would so under-propose a figure to that of Japanese researchers who represent the offending country.

• Not until August 1991 did the first comfort woman, 김학순, come out! Since that time a mere 238 former Korean comfort women have registered. Where are all these women? Why has only a tiny fraction of the tiny fraction who survived the war come out? So many reasons ...

• In 1994, The House of Sharing for the former comfort women was first built in 1994, in the Daehakro area. It was not built by the Korean government.

• Actually, 김학순 was not the first comfort woman to come out. 16 years earlier a Korean came out in Japan. The story was carried in Japanese newspapers, but Korea never picked up on the story.

• In some Japanese records, the comfort stations were referred to as "Public Hygienic Bathrooms".

• The YouTube clip, "Ridiculous to Deny", is of a former Japanese medic who became a reclusive priest (Buddhist? Shinto?) after the war. He came out after Professor Yoshiyaki found documents of the Japanese comfort women system.

Comfort Women Issue in Historical Context

Every Wednesday, for the past 24 years, in front of the Japanese Embassy in South Korea, protests have demanded Japan recognize its war crimes, establish an official fact-finding mission, and provide official reparations for the sexual slavery of the Japanese Imperial Army. Last year, Japan and South Korea settled on a “final and irreversible” agreement without consulting the victims. Professor Han, Hong-gu will explore this issue along with South Korea and Japan’s relationship within a historical and political context.

A History of the Sexual Slavery by the Japanese Military

In the words of Professor Han (translation), "In regard to the Korean-Japanese history, it (the comfort woman issue) is very complicated. Korea was more advanced economically and culturally in the 1700s than Japan, but we started to fall behind, which ultimately led to being colonized by Japan."

• In 1592 Japan attacked (the Imjin War) but after those battles Korea and Japan had peaceful court relations
• In 1872 a Japanese ship forced the opening of Korea to Japanese trade
• In 1895 the queen was assassinated by the Japanese
• In 1905 Korea lost the right to diplomacy. Korea fought against Japanese attempts at colonization. There was a lot of resistance, example, Ahn Jung-geun

Though many might criticize Korea as not fighting the Japanese hard enough to retain their freedom, the feasibility of resistance was very small. Unlike in India where 2,000 Brits controlled the country and in Vietnam where 28,000 French people occupied and controlled that country making resistance virtually impossible, 1,000,000 Japanese were in residence with military might in the Korean peninsula. And because Japan were so proximal to Korea, they could easily send more numbers for settlement and to express authority and power; their control was strong and the Japanese were expanding their empire.

In their occupation, they used assimilation policies. They wanted to treat the Koreans like Japanese with Koreans taking Japanese last names. (This was exceedingly resisted by the Koreans who didn't share the same vision with the Japanese. Very interesting colonization and assimilation attempt because Professor Han knows of no other country that has ever introduced assimilation policies.) Japan did industrialize Korea unlike other countries that had colonies, but their aim was to have a base to control other countries like China and countries in Southeast Asia.

When Japan "invaded" Korea, about 200,000 Korean immigrated between 1900-1945, that is, about 16-17% of the population. This was the largest migration of people in such a short time other than the Irish leaving Ireland because of the potato famine.

In 1919 the last emperor was poisoned and the March First Movement resulted. The emperor's poisoning led the way to more control by the Japanese.

Japan did create elementary schools, thus providing education, and they did improve literacy which was very low within Korea. However, in the 1930s the education became militarized and students were indoctrinated by thoughts like "When the Yankees come, we will crush their heads" and students were drilled to fight, parry and attack with sticks and swords during school hours. Schools became the vehicle for resistance. 

In 1936 손기전 a Korean ran in the Olympics under the Japanese flag. In fury and nationalism, the Japanese flag was erased from his uniform and then published in a Korean newspaper, which was a very bold move, and one that motivated the Japanese to clamp down on publication and enforce tighter control of the "freedom of the press".

About this time Japanese also motivated Koreans to labor in Japan, ex. Kyushu, because their own men were militarized in foreign countries to fight and expand the Japanese nation-empire. (These laborers were later repatriated.)

6-7 years later all of the Koreans incarcerated in the Sodaemun prison and the ones who weren't but who had fought for Korean freedom moved to North Korea and beyond to organize a resistance government outside of the Korean peninsula. These individuals were to remain outside of Korea after the end of WWII so the events of history unfolding didn't really improve after colonial times. Those people who had resisted the Japanese the most were not the ones made governors or given government positions. The ones who fought most for the freedom of the country were not viewed as leaders by the makers of the new republic ... After the Japanese flag came down, the American flag went up. Koreans did not regain their autonomy and right of self-government.

In result, the 38th parallel is one of the cursed indirect heritages left by the Japanese colonial period.

After WWII the 38th parallel was merely marked in roads and people could cross. Every year after the war the 38th parallel became more and more controlled, and ultimately the military patrolled the line, preventing anyone from crossing and closing down all communication between "countries".

After liberation, people had to punish the collaborators so many committees were set up. Ironically, the National Assembly contained people who were part of the punishment committee, but many of those assembly men were also accused of being communists. This pointing of punishment became a way for Japanese collaborators to "regain" power. 550,000 people were investigated, but not even 5,000 Japanese collaborators were investigated.

In 2009 a new form of Korean currency, the 100,000 won bill, much debated and discussed, was to be published. Kim Baek Bom, aka Kim Koo, leader of the provisional government during Japanese colonial period, was determined to be the figurehead for the bill. Kim Baek Bom had assassinated the president of the Korea National Assembly and therefore was a very controversial choice based on one's family and family politics. Why did the 100,000 won bill fail to be published? Because of the new Korean president of the time, Lee Myung Bak (president 2008 - 2013) and his family history; publishing the bill would have been problematic. When Lee Myung Bak became president, only the 50,000 won bill was passed, and very quickly the 100,000 won bill was scrapped.

Present-day Sexual Slavery Issue

At the end of December 2015, supposedly Korea and Japan finally "resolved" the years of controversy over the sexual slavery of Korean women (approximately 200,000) during the latter part of the colonial period. For details, read "Comfort Women Controversy between S. Korea and Japan Ended?" Many problems exist with this dropping of historical conflicts, most of it due to the apology not being public at all but reportedly given only to present president of Korea, Park Guen-hye, who was not a victim, who came from a family of strong Japanese sympathizers, and who has no authority of accepting such an apology, if indeed it did take place.

But how did such an "agreement of resolution" finally come about? The United States and China are in conflict and Korea and Japan are supporters and neighbors in the tension, so the United States wants them to get along and overcome their political historical baggage. Also, Japan really wants to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council so to purge themselves of some of their historical conflicts was seen as being in their best interests. The Japanese have never apologized for using the sexual slavery of women or for the Nanjing Massacre. Neither is there any discussion on the topics.

But then the question arises, why did Korea want to eliminate the sexual slavery issue? Park Guen-hye ultimately rushed to a conclusion to facilitate Korea-Japan relations. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is said to have called Park Guen-hye to apologize but only she heard this apology, but it is pointed out that "Park Guen-hye, daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee who also had a shameful career as a Japanese officer during the colonial period, wanted to throw away the burdensome image of a daughter of a pro-Japanese collaborator." Koreans want to hear the apology. Even the Japanese Parliament asked for a public apology but this was rejected. The questions remains: Does Park Guen-hye have the right to accept such an apology on behalf of the grandmothers who have never heard the apology?

A North Korean former comfort women became a witness at a tribunal and told who was who in this very iconic picture of young girls in a "comfort women" station. She also said that the baby was born but passed away.

Kim Hak-soon became the first former "comfort woman" to testify; her testimony came out in 1991, 46 years after the close of World War II. Why did it take so long? Many reasons. One being, in the case of the Holocaust, ALL Jews were victims so this could be an issue for open discussion. In the case of sexual slavery in Korea, the victims were poor rural daughters and loss of virginity was further blamed on women not men despite the reason for the loss, not to mention that the Korean society was patriarchal and women/daughters were not considered as important as men/sons. After WWII and then after the Korean War, Korea needed to focus on rebuilding the structure of the country; social issues were given little regard.

To support Kim Hak-soon, a Dutch former "comfort woman" came out also in order to support her, to give solidarity, and because she knew that an Asian wouldn't get the same attention as a "white" in regard to tribunal committees and forms of reparations and punishments. It is estimated that about 80% of all comfort women were Korean, and that guestimations of Korean comfort women range from 40,000 - 200,000; the latter does not seem to be a stretch of the truth.

The above picture of a military man dressed up in US military clothing with four comfort women is from the US National archives. Lots of information was made by the US military when they came across the comfort women stations. Why does the US have such notes? Because they noticed the Japanese fought to the death, absolutely, so they started documenting data about the Japanese. They noticed houses with women (as they took over territory) so they documented extensively about the women. This shows that the US military was very aware of the comfort women who were allegedly forced to serve the Japanese military, yet they the US remained silent. They therefore share some responsibility on not bringing this issue to the public or introducing it in the trials of Japanese soldiers after the war.

Most people focus on the issue as young girls being forced into sexual slavery, but the real focus should be on why the government implemented such a practice, supported it, and of course forced young women to participate. 

A Japanese picture labeled "The virgin girls" - In the back row are teenage girls and some in their 20s,
five and six-year-olds are in the front row. 

The caption reads, "When the war heroes come back from the war,
the girls will provide the best for them."

Maintaining comfort women and comfort stations isn't just an issue of nationalism with Koreans demanding apologies from Japan. Korean army documentation shows that the Korean military likewise maintained sexual stations for their men. "War History on the War Front" (1956) published by the Korean Army documents Koreans having comfort stations too. The book shows only four places were Korean comfort stations were (but there were more). In the book 89 women were listed serving 204,580 men. This was the number of Korean soldiers at the time. 

Professor Han cradling the book, "War History on the War Front" (1965)

In "War History on the War Front" is documentation of the number of men in the army at that time
and documentation of four comfort stations used by the Korean army.

Sexual slavery wasn't only limited to Japanese soldiers. Korean generals were collaborators with Japanese and they were the ones who authorized the sex slavery for the Korean army.

There was also a sexual slavery for the UN army at the time but statistics haven't been found as yet.

In 1965 an issue of normalization of slavery became an international discussion; however, the sexual slavery issue in regard to Japan wasn't brought up because the Korean government had their own sexual slavery, and at the time Korean soldiers were sent to Vietnam and sexual slaves went along to accompany and "accommodate" them.

In the 1970s the Korean government had a cleaning campaign for the military base area (because of STDs). In the US military about 1,000 US soldiers and about 700 Korean soldiers had STDs. 

"Monkey" House (which later became a documentary) was a detainment house for women who had STDs. The house functioned from the 1970s to 2003. There was a "joke" that if you worked (not as a female) at the Monkey House, you would become rich and be able to buy an elaborate house within two years because pimps would come around and want their girls out so bribes to get them released were lucrative and frequent.

Though women were not termed comfort women and were paid, albeit a very marginal amount, they functioned sexually for the military. Military prostitution became a part of US military bases, not within the base grounds but just outside the encampment so as not to be "officially" military operated. However, such operations did occur. American Town was a house opened 24 hours a day and served about 1,000 US soldiers. It was operated by a high-up official from the KCIA (2nd or 3rd in command). Officials told the women working there, "You are a safety net for keeping the US military men happy." From the 1950s to 1960s the revenue made by the women serving the US military men was 10% of South Korea's Grose National Product. 

Former prostitute for the American military speaks out and writes a book
on American Town where she did sexual work.

Military camps in South Korea are still set up with red-light districts around, and the women working in them were euphemistically called 양공주 (Western or Yankee princess). It is said that the South Korean and US government collude on providing sexual entertainment facilities for the US military men serving in South Korea; former prostitutes testify against both governments. 

For so many reasons, the comfort women issue has not gotten the sharp focus and attention of the South Korean government as well as international backing to achieve an apology and war crime reparations. Though an "apology" is said to have been given and received, politics has shaped and continues to shape how "noisy" the governments want to be, or don't want to be, on the politically and economically driven issue that seems to mask the social aspect.

In "apologizing" to Park Geun-hye, one of the demands of the Japanese government for giving apology is the removal of the controversial comfort woman sculpture in front of the Japanese embassy. Many such images exist in South Korea and they, according to the terms of the apology, are all to be removed. Activists stay 24/7 with the sculpture. They say it will not be removed until a real apology is forth-coming. The former comfort women have gathered every Wednesday for 24 years now. They have protested more than 1,200 times. Never during this time has a Japanese ambassador come to see, to talk, to listen, or to apologize. There doesn't seem to be a formal, public apology forthcoming and the activists will continue to demand recognition and apology indefinitely until it does.

Comfort Women Controversy between S. Korea and Japan Ended?

Today the Korean web began posting on the resolution for the many-decades long controversy between Korea and Japan on the topic of the Korean comfort women. There are many issues and strong points of controversy between South Korea and Japan and I'm wondering how "resolving" this issue will help resolve, or even antagonize, other issues between the two countries. Following is the first article I saw posted related to the resolution; it's also the article I see most re-posted so why not repost it yet again:

Japan and South Korea agree to settle wartime sex slaves row

Shinzo Abe offers sincere apology for use of ‘comfort women’ by Japanese soldiers, removing major barrier to better relations.

South Koreans who lost family members during the second world war demand full compensation and an apology from Japan in Seoul. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

Japan and South Korea have removed the biggest obstacle to better bilateral ties after agreeing to “finally and irreversibly” resolve Tokyo’s use of tens of thousands of Korean women as wartime sex slaves.

ANALYSIS: Korean comfort women agreement is a triumph for US and Japan

In a breakthrough that barely seemed possible a few months ago, Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, offered his “most sincere apologies” to the women in a statement issued in Seoul by his foreign minister, Fumio Kishida .

It was not immediately clear if Abe would send a letter of apology to each surviving “comfort woman”.

Later Monday, Abe called the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye , who has described the sex slave row as “the biggest obstacle” to improved ties with Tokyo, and reiterated his apology. He told reporters that the agreement was based on his commitment to stop future generations from having to repeatedly apologise. “Japan and South Korea are now entering a new era. We should not drag this problem into the next generation.”

Park issued a separate statement saying the deal was the result of her government’s best efforts to resolve the sex slave issue. “I hope the mental pains of the elderly comfort women will be eased,” she said.

Japan also offered to set up a new 1bn yen (£5.6m) fund, with the money, paid directly by the government, divided among the 46 former comfort women still alive, most of whom are in their late 80s and early 90s.

COMMENT: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe stops short of a new apology 

in war anniversary speech

Speaking after make-or-break talks with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, Kishida heralded a new era of better relations between the two countries, whose strong trade ties and military alliances with the US have been overshadowed by the controversy.

“This marks the beginning of a new era of Japan-South Korea ties,” he told reporters. “I think the agreement we reached is historic and is a groundbreaking achievement.

“[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 Japanese government also conceded that its military authorities played a role in the sexual enslavement of the women. While avoiding any admission of legal responsibility, Kishida’s statement said: “The issue of comfort women, with an involvement of the Japanese military authorities at that time, was a grave affront to the honour and dignity of large numbers of women, and the government of Japan is painfully aware of responsibilities from this perspective.”

Abe and other conservative politicians in Japan had previously questioned whether the Japanese government and military played any role in coercing the women, arguing that they had been procured by private brokers.

Both countries said the agreement would resolve the issue “finally and irreversibly”, adding that they would refrain from making critical remarks on the subject at the United Nations and in other international forums.

Yun said Seoul would cooperate, as long as Japan followed through on its promises. He also suggested that South Korea was willing to negotiate the removal of a statue of a girl symbolising the comfort women that stands outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Although the statue belongs to privately run campaign groups, Yun said the South Korean government would “strive to solve this issue in an appropriate manner through taking measures such as consulting with related organisations”.

There is disagreement on the exact number of women forced into prostitution by Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. Campaigners say as many as 200,000 women – mostly Koreans, but also Chinese, south-east Asians and a small number of Japanese and Europeans – were forced or tricked into working in military brothels between 1932 and Japan’s defeat in 1945.

Most women took their secret to the grave. South Korean Kim Hak-soon became the first to testify about her experiences in public in 1991. “We must record these sins that were forced upon us,” she said.

South Korea has long called on Japan to issue an official apology, pay compensation to the surviving women and recognise its legal responsibility. Japan stopped short of admitting legal responsibility and stressed that the new fund was a humanitarian gesture.

The Japanese government initially denied the existence of wartime brothels. But in 1993, the then chief cabinet secretary, Yohei Kono, acknowledged and apologised for the first time for Japan’s use of sex slaves.

Over the years, Japan has refused to directly compensate the women, saying all claims were settled in a 1965 treaty that restored diplomatic ties and included more than $800m in grants and loans to South Korea.

In 1995, it set up the privately run Asian women’s fund, which drew on private donations. But many women refused money unless it came directly from the Japanese state. Only about 260 former sex slaves received cash – worth about 2m yen each – and the fund was disbanded in 2007.

The agreement reached on Monday will be welcomed by the US, which has urged its two east Asian allies to settle their differences over second world war history and show a united front in the face of an increasingly assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.

In Beijing, the foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: “We hope to see an improvement of the bilateral relationship between the Japanese and South Korean side.”

Hiroka Shoji , an east Asia researcher at Amnesty International, said: “Today’s agreement must not mark the end of the road in securing justice for the hundreds of thousands [of] women who suffered due to Japan’s military sexual slavery system.

“The women were missing from the negotiation table and they must not be sold short in a deal that is more about political expediency than justice. Until the women get the full and unreserved apology from the Japanese government for the crimes committed against them, the fight for justice goes on.”

The spread of frontline brothels coincided with Japan’s military campaigns in large parts of China and south-east Asia. As colonial ruler of the Korean peninsula, Japan was able to target poor and uneducated victims, typically aged between 13 and 19.

Speculation that a comfort women agreement was in the offing had risen following a bilateral meeting between Abe and Park in early November, their first for three-and-a-half years, and the decision by a South Korean court to acquit a Japanese journalist accused of defaming Park.

The South Korean president had voiced hope that a deal would be reached by the end of this year, 50 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

The Korean web is alive with comments and Facebook is filled with postings of the controversy finally being resolved, but there are questions about just what are the ethics employed in "resolving" this? What politics are driving sudden humanitarian apologies? Here's one of the earliest responses, published today also no less!

Apology Isn't Justice for Korea's 'Comfort Women'

By Noah Feldman

At long last, Korea's “comfort women” are getting a real apology from Japan's government for being forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II. But the moment is bittersweet, and not just because it’s taken 70 years. The apology comes not out of a change in Japanese sentiment, but from a change in geopolitics -- namely, the rise of China and the increasing need for Japan and South Korea to cooperate on mutual defense. And it comes at the price of a promise by the South Korean government not to criticize Japan over the issue again -- a trade of moral claims for compensation and finality.

The saga of the Japanese non-apology has had many twists and turns, demonstrating that in the contemporary political cultures of both Japan and Korea, apologies aren’t mere formalities but are laden with symbolic significance. A muted 1993 apology was accompanied by compensation from private donors and marked a refusal by Japan’s government to acknowledge its role in the sexual enslavement. Koreans got the point, and some women refused to take money from the fund.

The question of state responsibility has remained a sore point. A South Korean historian who has written about the role of private entrepreneurs in enslaving women during the war has been condemned by survivors who say she is minimizing the Japanese government’s guilt.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a strong nationalist, isn’t naturally inclined to apologize for Japan’s wartime atrocities. In the past, he’s angered Chinese and Koreans by visiting the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals.

What motivates Abe is the quest to improve Japan’s national security. China’s military expansionism is the main cause. Almost equally important is an accompanying perception that the U.S. may not be the strong protector it has traditionally been. Would the U.S. go to war to defend Taiwan from China? If the answer is no, then why would the U.S. go to war to protect Japan or South Korea? If there’s doubt about the U.S. commitment, Japan and Korea need each other.

The Pacific security arrangement is often described as a “hub and spokes” model, with the U.S. at the center. Abe is setting out to strengthen the ties between the spokes -- because he recognizes that the hub is not as willing a gravitational force as it once was.

In this increasingly uncertain Cool War environment, the perception of Japanese-Korean solidarity is an important aspect of Abe’s program. It’s why he was willing to pay the political price at home of an apology to the comfort women that accompanies an $8.3 million fund -- this time paid by his government. And as a nationalist, he can afford to draw on his store of right-wing credibility to buy political advantage.

But the apology and the money came with a price attached: South Korea’s promise that the issue of the comfort women would be settled once and for all, and that its government wouldn’t complain about it further. And Abe can tell his constituents that he has bought the Koreans’ silence, removing an argument that always came up when Japan was accused of being aggressive or nationalist.

That’s almost always how reparations, whether legally formal or (as in this case) informal, work in the real world: The wronged party gets compensation and an apology; the party that did the wrong gets a de facto promise that it won’t have to be reminded of what it did. Without this trade, countries wouldn’t voluntarily pay up, so it may seem naive to criticize the exchange, provided you think compensation is a good thing.

All tort settlements, even those between private parties, have something of this character. Compensation functions as corrective justice, and the injured party is expected to be satisfied by the deal.

But morally speaking, crimes against humanity aren’t the same as car accidents. Those who enslaved women during World War II weren’t being negligent; they raped and dehumanized these women in particular, and the status and fundamental rights of women everywhere.

Promising a form of silence about such crimes in exchange for an apology and compensation seems inadequate to the scope and meaning of the wrongdoing. During negotiations, Japan also sought the removal of a memorial statue in front of its embassy in Seoul. South Korea’s government promised to take up the issue with the survivors – implying a good-faith effort to make the memorial disappear.

Crimes against humanity are the world’s business. They shouldn’t be forgotten, and discussing as well as memorializing them shouldn’t be suppressed or discouraged.

The interest in keeping the memory of such crimes alive also extends to the victims themselves. Of course they’re entitled to compensation. But it feels wrong if they can only get it because their government has agreed to drop their case and, to a degree, is encouraging them to drop their efforts to shame the perpetrators.

The realities of international practice are inevitable and harsh. Individuals need states to prosecute claims against other states on their behalf. And once states are in the game, they’ll behave as states usually do: trading values and ideals and honor for advancement of their interests. But that doesn’t mean we always have to like it. The memory of terrible wrongs should be preserved, as a goad to stop them from happening again.

Our horror about the treatment of the comfort women should steel us to act on behalf of women kidnapped into sexual slavery by Islamic State and Boko Haram. No amount of reconciliation with the past should make us reconcile with those crimes of the present.

Story of a Comfort Woman

In my freshmen Academic English class, the students were to conduct an interview and get a story from a time before they were born. They were to listen to detail and relate that detail in a narrative structure. Here is a particularly sad but descriptive story of a comfort woman from the Japanese colonial period of Korea, written by Lee Kang Hee and printed here by his permission. Thank you, Kang Hee.

Sad Story in the Era under the Japanese Colonial

            When I was a high school student, I visited ‘The Sharing House’ to participate in an assembly. The assembly was held every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy in Korea to get an apology from the Japanese administration for a lot of elderly women who were sacrificed as comfort girls in the period of Japanese imperialism. After that assembly, I had the chance to meet one of the victims named Lee Oak Sun and interviewed her.

            I politely and carefully asked her to describe some experiences about the Japanese military’s sexual slavery. “You guys could not imagine how terrible those experiences were,” she said, starting her story. About seventy years ago, she was fourteen years old. When her parents went out for farming, two Japanese policemen came into her house and took her somewhere, saying that she had to go because of problems concerning her parents. At first, she resisted. However, the two men hit her head with long guns so she could not help but go with them. A scar from that day is still on the back side of her head, she said.

The old woman then described the next days after she had been taken. She arrived at a Japanese base in China and there were a number of other girls of a similar age to her. She said that she had been made to do chores on her first day, but was directly taken to a Japanese general and raped on the second day. After that terrible night, she started doing the same kind of work every day and night. Sometimes she was forced to have sex with over thirty Japanese soldiers a day. One day, when another woman refused to work, the soldiers struck her and threatened her with knives. One of the most brutal punishments was to throw the naked girls at boards with many needles, she said. The floor of the room was red with blood.

            In 1945, when Japan started to be defeated in the Second World War, Ms. Lee said there had been even crueler mistreatments towards the women. Even when one of them said she was hungry, the soldiers killed another woman and made soup from her and fed the remaining women. Additionally when Ms. Lee’s friend caught a sexually transmitted disease from numerous rapes, a soldier brought a heated stick and pierced her womb, saying it was to prevent contagion. Then the day came when Japan was defeated and the sexual slavery had to be concealed. She said they had not had a single thought to let the women go from the beginning. They put tattoos of children doodling on the women’s skin and killed them. That night, the corpses were thrown away and she pretended to be dead. A passing Chinese person found her and nursed her until she had recovered enough to be moved, she said.

            Several days after she was rescued and the war had ended, she came to Korea to meet her family. She said there had been nobody in her house. She sat there and cried. All that remained to her was just an empty heart, an empty house, and tattoos all over her skin. She could not marry because there was the social stigma on people like herself who had had sexual relations outside of marriage. Besides, the Japanese administration had covered up the existence of military sexual slavery so what could she prove, she said. The Japanese administration had deleted the facts from their school textbooks and sometimes even said the women had worked voluntarily receiving money. The grandma said, “I cannot forgive Japan.” 

            Today’s Japanese administration is run by descendants of war criminals from the Second World War who were released because of China’s communization. She hopes that the Japanese administration still run by the war criminals will one day give reward and apology to their victims. Most importantly, she wants facts about previous Japanese evil deed to be known and remembered by everyone all over the world.

AIDS in Korea and Korea's Responses

The speaker of the night was a sister working for God, of whom I shall leave anonymous as she must work in high risk areas where prejudices are rampant and her identity must remain undisclosed. Even when she gave a seminar back in August, not with the open-minded researchers at the RASKB but with the typical people she was trying to raise recognition to of a social problem, she wore a beaded red mask so that she couldn't be inadvertently recognized later as the speaker and as the one who worked side-by-side and hand-in-hand with the PILWHA (People Living With HIV and AIDS). The sister is extremely compassionate and connected with her AIDS friends. Her voice caught at the end and she ended her presentation in near tears. She is a living witness to a lot of suffering in life, not only physcial suffering but the worst of all, the mental suffering and condemnation of people with AIDS, the social pariahs ... stigmatized ... outcasted ... and self-righteously judged by others.

The social prejudice and discrimination suffered by those living with HIV are indescribably serious. If their infection is made public, the deep-rooted social prejudice makes it impossible for sufferers to lead normal lives. The cuase may be complicated having to do with Korean traditional values which keep sexual matters very private and also the fear of AIDS which may be due to ignorance about HIV in general.

What led the sister to work with AIDS began in 1988 (the year of the Olympics) when she returned to Korea and was given the opportunity to seek out some area of real need in society. She was quickly led to the women sex workers (매춘부 or prostitutes but the word comes from Chinese and literally means "selling spring wife") and deeply challenged by what she saw. She found it heart-rending to work with the women who had little freedom in the many brothels. The women were exploited and abused by owners and customers alike. They were also exploited by others too: dry cleaners, hair dressers, even street vendors who sold them their goods at inflated prices to take advantage of the fact that they had little choice or mobility in who they bought from. The young women were not free to go out shopping like other women, and so life with choices was curtailed.

Picture of Miari Texas, which, when she started had 200 brothels and each had 5-20 prostitutes.
Taking this picture was only possible during the daytime as at night, the doors are well watched and picture
taking is very much prohibited.

Words appropriately describing these exploited women are: stigma, discrimination, violence, lack of freedom. These women are used by customers and pimps, money lenders and many others who profit from the sex industry. Their human dignity in most cases is seriously damaged. This leaves them feeling that there is no way out for them. And of course they are vulnerable to infections, including HIV.

What the sister hoped to achieve by her presence in and around Miari Texas was first and foremost to be friends. She wanted them to know that she was not there to exploit them or to force her will upon them in any way. Her approach was to visit the brothal area alone so that she was not a threat to anyone, but was in fact vulnerable and powerless herself. She set up a small house, and when the opportunity arose, she would give a young woman her phone number and invite her to come, and of course anyone who came, she would invite them to stay.

HIV/AIDS and Women Engaged in Sex Work

Back in 1988, AIDS in Korea was very rare. There were only 38 recorded cases in a population of 48 million. Aware, however, of the devastation AIDS was causing in the world and in others who did sex work, it seemed imperative that something must be done to lessen the spread in a society vulnerable but not yet afflicted. She knew she had to do two principle things:

1. protect these women from HIV
2. prevent the spread of HIV in Korea even before it took hold

She and other sisters and volunteers educated themselves on HIV and AIDS. They then gave seminars and lectures in churches and to nurses. The sister felt the nurses were more important to educate than the doctors, because (1) doctors have achieved higher education and don't listen to people with less, but most importantly (2) it is the nurses who do the most interacting with patients and so educating them so they could counsel and advise patients more informedly was considered very important. Then in 1990, the first booklet on HIV awareness was published.

Korean Catholic HIV/AIDS Committee

In 1995, there was the establishment of the Korean Catholic HIV/AIDS Committee, which is comprised of church members (lay, clergy and priests). All of the volunteers were engaged in other full time ministries. The doctor was running a free clinic offereing services to PLWH. A brother was visiting prisoners and took on helping prisoners living with HIV. A sister started visiting PLWHA in hospitals and at their homes. A dentist offered treatment at a Catholic run clinic. And another sister who had severe physical challenges wanted to help also but because of her lack of mobility started counseling one-on-one at her home or by phone.

The objectives of the committee was to set up a system of response for the basic needs of PLWHA; to network and support each other so as to ease the heavy burden of always being the one to provide succor; to encourage more people to become involved; and to educate ourselves while carrying out preventative education.

Back in Miari Texas, the public outcome and appreciation of their work was .... in 1990 (and even today), NO RESPONSE. They were avoided. Not until 1997, when they got a call from Korean Catholic HIV/AIDS Committee did they start getting some external support. The committee offered to stipend them W50,000/mth to help with the Miari Texas work. At that time the sister was converting a small store room into a prayer room, a quiet place for women to spend some time. This was the beginning of Samaria House. However, the first person to come to Samaria House was not a woman, but a man, and soon four men were staying in the tiny house. So in 1999, the sister and those working with her bought an eight-bedroom house for PLWHA. In 2000, Samaria House changed to New Light Community Shelter for Women Living with HIV/AIDS.

Facts of Korea and Its HIV and AIDS Population

The first known case of HIV/AIDS was in 1985. In 2011, there were over 8,544 PLWHA in a population of about 50 million. However, this number reflects the reported or known cases, but in actuality, in Korea there is a very large guestimated population modestly set at 25,000 but in reality, the number is likely to be higher because of shame and therefore underreporting. Men are the primary transmitters of the dreaded disease, and in 2011, men having AIDS was 7,544, eleven times higher than women who reported at 684. In 2011 new infections of AIDS in men was 827, while it was 61 for females. In 2011, there were 148 deaths resulting from AIDS. Since its presence in Korea in 1985 until 2011, 1,514 people in Korea have died from the virus.

 

The government documents a slow but constant increase in new infections, and on average, two new cases are diagnosed each day. At the UN level, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon gives the quote in his High Level Meeting on AIDS address in June 2011:  "Today we have a chance to end this epidemic once and for all. This is our goal: zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS related deaths."

 

However, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic slows down in Africa, it is on the increase in Asia and the Pacific. There are also more young people being infected. The three zeros seem a long way off. But realistically, the hope can be achieved in Zero Mother to Child Infection set by 2015. [The sister thinks this is achieveable as Korea still has a relatively low HIV rate, and she has known of only two babies with it, one in 2010 and the other in 2011.]

 

In Korea, it is said that a person diagnosed with HIV has three choices: suicide, leave family and friends, and try to adapt. Many choose one of the former two, suicide probably accounting for more deaths of those with HIV than those dying of the disease. Many others are afraid to come forward for testing even though the first test is anonymous. Even those who knew they are at risk do not come forward. Those risk factors include:

• men having sex with men (MSM)
• sex workers
• those having multiple partners
• migrant workers
• young people (because they are experimenting but not knowing "safe sex" measures)

Some world statistics on the outbreak of HIV/AIDS are:

• 7,400 new infections every day
• 1,150 children infected every day
• half of all new infections are in the young, ages 15-24

 

Responses to HIV/AIDS 

 

The Korean government is starting to provide more education to enhance HIV/AIDS awareness. However, it seems that less is done at the preventative level than the medical treatment level. Free testing is provided for people at risk, and the first testing is done anonymously. For those diagnosed with HIV there is free Anti-Retroviral Therapy, as well as nurse counseling.

 

Other Christian groups are responding too: the Salvation Army, shelters and also various second-hand clothing shops. Christian Minister provides hospice and nursing care facilities; they also provide free dental care.

 

The development of the Catholic ministries started at the organizational level in 1995 with seminars on AIDS prevention. In 1997 the first shelter for AIDS patients was built (operated by our sister speaker). From 2000 to the present, three live-in shelters have been established, which evolved into three day centers offering various programs, which led to the establishment of 2 hospitals with limited beds for hospice care.

 

In 2009 the Korean Catholic Red Ribbon Corporation (한국가톨릭레드리본) was established by the Korean Catholic HIV/AIDS Committee. The Red Ribbon Corporation is now the central Catholic body working with HIV/AIDS and most brothers and sisters in Korea try to work through this organized body. So far, one group home has been established, three day centers, and three shelters. The activities in the shelters are to provide 24-hour care for a limited period and to make efforts to:

• raise self confidence
• provide spiritual and psychological healing
• retrain, where necessary, for individuals to return to the work force and live independent and useful lives in mainstream society

The Treatment: HAART

 

The treatment often called HAART (HIV/AIDS Anti-Retroviral Therapy) is intended to recover the immune system and reduce the number of viruses in the blood. There are three important advantages to using this treatment, provided the virus is caught in time:

• recovery of health
• 95% reduction rate in the spread of the virus
• reduction rate in mother-child infection

However, there are drawbacks in administering the medication. Not all indivuals can stomach this strong medication and taking it means following a regemented schedule to keep the antriviral drugs high in the blood to check the further spread of the disease. Also, over 60% of the people with HIV/AIDS are discovered when they come to the hospital for other ailments or when they are already seriously ill. The medication also is NOT a cure, but merely can keep the virus under control, but with the regular and timely use of the medication, HIV/AIDS can now be seen as a chronic condition like diabetes or high blood pressure instead of the destined-to-iminently-die disease it once signified.

 

Problems for PLWHA in regard to employment are the absolute need for annual/regular checkups and make frequent trips to the hospital. PLWHA fear others seeing them take their medication or will see them with the government-provided free medical card, which is labeling. PLWHA sometimes become too weak to work, don't respond to the medicine because they were diagnosed too late, develop other chronic conditions because of their weakened immune system, and find it very difficult to maintain the timely medication-taking schedule. PLWHA are often rejected by family and friends; they often have no one to talk with as they must keep their difficulties private or others fear or are shamed by the topic. PLWHA suffer from depression and often alcoholism, and then for the alcoholics going to AA for treatment, there would be great stigma to talk about their HIV/AIDS infection so their problems are never discussed or addressed and without identifying and treating the core problem, their social problems can never be resolved.

 

HIV/AIDS can be prevented. The first stage prevention methods are through safe sexual practices, abstenance before marriage, faithfullness after marriage, and the education and encouragement for people to delay sexual intercourse. Second stage prevention steps include male circumcision which reduces the passing of AIDS by 40%, the use of condoms although this is not 100% safe and because of alcohol and other factors, condoms are often used ineffectively.

 

Up until 2009 foreigners who tested positive with HIV were deported, and the outcome of that was the reluctance to come forward and yet the continual sexual practices furthering infection in society. When many foreigners did finally come forward, they were in the final stages of AIDS and many were too sick to return home and so died in Korea. In 2009, the policy on deporting foreigners with AIDS changed and the act of deportation was revoked. Though they are still reluctant to come forward, and many still wait till very ill, there is still effective treatment. And as they have no money when they are discharged from the hospital and have no place to go, the Shelter can take them in for a limited amount of time. They are given pocket money but after 6-9 months, they must return to their home country. The Shelter provides them with travel fare and puts them in contact with HIV/AIDS centers in their own country.

 

 

There is also an education program for migrant workers, KINHA, as the migrants are considered at very high risk. KINHA (Korean Interfaith Network on HIV/AIDS) was set up in April 2011 in a joint effort between the Salvation Army and the Catholic church, but it is not limited to Catholic volunteers but is rather interdenominational, being also represented by Protestants, Won Buddhist, Chogye Buddhists and others. This education movement was started to dispel fears and prejudices about HIV/AIDS, and the current research on the impact of the stigma and prejudice of PLWHA is being done through interviews of women LWHA, questionnaires filled out by social workers and students, and also questionnaires completed by PLWHA.

 

OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS

 

Some other facts the sister shared concerning HIV/AIDS are:

• it takes 3-10 years before the symptoms appear but during that time a person can infect others
• in sexual contact, according to research, 1 in 100 gets infected
• in sexual contact with HIV-infected blood, about 100% chance of getting infected
• sharing noodles, tattoos and body piercing, unless blood is involved, does not spread the infection; however, these behaviors are not recommended
• mother-to-child infections by carrying the child, by vaginal birth, and by breast feeding register a 30% chance of infection
• medical accidents (doctors or nurses getting stuck by needles) can result in the spread (the sister commented that as yet not one case in Korea has been the result of a medical accident)
• HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted by tears, sweat, saliva (if there are no cavities), cup sharing, bathing together, hand shaking, coughing or sneezing, or even by mosquitos
• What is not recommended is the sharing of razors, toothbrushes, nail clippers (because of where the cuticle is cut and then the tool may not be sterilized)

In our immune system there are cells called CD4. These cells fight off infection and disease. The HIV virus directly attacks these cells. Therefore, a nourishing diet feeds and nurtures the body's cells, so eating well does ironically serve also as a kind of preventative.

 

The last piece of trivis is that today, Dec 1, is AIDS day in Korea. Hence, waiting for a few months to post this presentation on a most propitious day!

Dec 1 - AIDS day in Korea

Filipina Women in US Military Camptowns

Park Sori, the director of Durebang in Pyoungtek, gave a presentation on the final night of the series on gender studies sponsored by the International Outreach Team of the House of Sharing: "한풀이: Liberating Herstories".

The website www.durebang.org is for the Durebang center in 위정부, the main office and which assists the women who were entrapped in sex trafficking around the military bases in years past; the women at that site are older, maybe around 60ish, but the women in the 평택 Durebang are younger and principally Filippina. The 평택 Durebang has only been opened for 2 years and is still trying to resolve what role it can play in assisting the sex trafficked foreign women. [Much dialog is held about the role these women function in modern-day society, and their roles as 'coerced' sex workers have been likened to that of the 'comfort women' of the Japanese colonial period.]

Since 1986 Durebang has been a functioning organization that has supported foreign camptown women. These women have come to Korean on legal visas to work in and only for entertainment as singers and dancers, and the women since the 1990s have been predominantly Filippinas, misled Filippinas who are promised one job and upon arrival realize that it's a different job and are forced to do the work as they have no social or legal support in the foreign country. Therefore, one of the big reasons for opening the 평택 branch is to provide avenues for entertainment workers social networks outside of their compromised work environment and to meet other Filippinas in the Korean community, such as Filippinas who have married Korean men or are nannies, etc.

The Filippinas who do go to Durebang for assistance are usually needing help regarding financial assistance, such as no money for food, not being paid, needing hospital or medical care. However, they NOT want to say anything in any way regarding their being victims of sex trafficking. After some time of being open and available for assistance, one Filippina finally confessed to being used sexually and once someone had opened the topic, others came to report the problem also. The Filippinas came to Korea thinking that they would be singers and dancers, but once here realized that their job as entertainer was bar hostess that had to serve other sex roles.

Even though their passports and ID were taken away, the government does not admit that they are sex trafficked as to the government sex trafficking implies kidnapping and being chained or confined against one's will and obviously the Filippinas have signed contracts as entertainers and are not chained or confined in any way. As the workers have official places of work -- cruise boats, entertainment resorts, near military camps, ports, they are certainly not trafficked. However, sex trafficking in its broader definition means that people, predominantly women, are moved to alternative locations and pressured into sexual relations of any kind against their will. These girls are therefore sex trafficked; they have been not forcefully but deceptively relocated to another country, given jobs that they did not contract for, and are forced to stay at those jobs (by government sanction) as they cannot find employment anywhere else until they show their personal documents, which they don't even have access to, and re-register their place of employment. Therefore, the Filippinas' existence in Korea is a sex-trafficking sanctioned by the government!

How Brokers Work in the Filippines

Women first get introduced to brokers by family members, friends, and other contacts. The Filippinas are hoping to get a job in order to earn money to support their families back in the Philippines. Once they accept the job, brokers convince them of the validity of the job and the girls receive training in singing and/or dancing in order to have the necessary skills upon arriving in Korea. They are also convinced that they will receive workers' rights, 4 days off a month, only give 3 performances a day, and basically brokers go to great lengths to convince the girls and those around them of the attractiveness of the job.

However, once the girls are in Korea and actually see others working, they know their contracts are basically null and void. Instead of singing, they might be working as bar hostesses and have to meet certain unrealistic quotas, for example, as a juicy bar hostess they might have to sell 300-400 glasses of pricey fruit juice (non-alcoholic so the selling is tricky) a month. They learn how to flirt, sit next to or on the lap of the customer, act cute, kiss, dance and even have more escalated contact, which can include sex. Business owners actually give a commission on each glass of juice sold -- example, for a ₩10,000 glass commission might be ₩2,000, and with this minute payment, owners can validate their claim that the girls are not trafficked and of course girls act all innocent when police or immigration raid the juicy bars as they feel somehow caught in the machinations of the industry and don't know who to trust or if they can even get help.

Brokers certainly aren't trustworthy. They are the ones benefitting. They get a commission for each girl they sign up, so go to unscrupulous ends for high commissions. Then, when bar owners pay the girls, they aren't paid the entertainment wages dictated by their contracts (hey, they likely haven't met quota so why?) so the owners pay between 1.1 and 1.3million won, but not to the girls but to the brokers. The brokers may or may not pay the girls, who might in the end only see ₩300,000 a month, not really enough to eek by and certainly with little to nothing left over to send home to the family in the Philippines.

Feeling trapped and bound by the quota system, girls learn that selling one juice equates to one point toward the unrealistic 300 or 400, but if they go to 2-차, or second round, they can get 20 points toward their quota ... and so they are kind of forced into the physical sexual acts.

Many people know about the circumstances of the juicy bars or other entertainment systems, but see them as a "necessary evil". The Korean sex industry is rapidly increasing and the nature of this work, "sex trafficking", is conducted in areas where it's not obvious, behind closed doors so to say, and so there is a lot of passivity on the issue. As it was historically for the poor Korean women without male support, Korea with its development now thinks that it is justified that other poor-country women should do the same work. Russian women were "trafficked" in Korea until 2003 when the E-6 visa was no longer issued to them, but this simply transferred the sex work around military camps to another nationality of women. In short the prevailing attitude seems to be, although the sex industry for camptowns does happen in Korean but no longer involves Korean women, it really is not Korea's problem any more.

To solve this problem, Durebang also tries to work with the sending countries because they are responsible too. Japan has military camptowns like Korea, and there too the women working them are predominantly Filippinas, a country quite relaxed about sending its women abroad to work. The Thai government takes an even laxer stance on the sending of its females than the Philippines government. There is a lack of vital response to control the work as the work outside constitutes generating cash flow within the country, an attitude that Korea took in the 1960s through 1980s, which results in exploitation of its people, particularly its women.

The Filipina women, after coming to the Durebang shelter, want to return to their country, which means that no charges can be pressed if there is no one to testify against the contract breakers and sexual perpetrators. Further on that note, Korean women usually fail at winning in sex related court cases, and foreign women, particularly the looked-down upon south-east Asians, really haven't got a chance of winning.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Tonight concludes the series "Liberating Herstories". More awareness on the topic of the sex industry - both past and present - and hopefully some sizeable donations have been made to divide between the 3 NGOs: House of Sharing, Durebang, and the Korean Council. However, although many people attended and I attended almost every night, I saw no businessmen, only one reporter (maybe), in fact few professionals. Young people mostly attended ... but they will help carry the flame to light the pyre of enlightenment on the issue and fuel the political engines for getting an apology and the six other concerns of the halmoni. Looking around Cafe Anthrocite at the various pictures of the halmoni on silent auction tonight [halmoni through art paint their emotions of the unfortunate events which took place], there is one picture that I find most gripping on the issue. It is a picture of a young woman in stark black and white; the only color on the large felt pen and ink picture is a bloody red hand splashed over the woman's mouth ... demanding her silence.


She will remain silent no longer! She will speak out! She will be heard! She demands an apology!