Explained: Who Are Comfort Women And Why Japan Wants To End This Discussion

During its imperial expansion between 1932-45, Japanese rule was present in many East Asian countries. Many women from these territories were captured and forced into sexual labour. They were known as comfort women.

Comfort women system was known as the biggest government sponsored system of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Most women were brought from Korea and China, while rest were brought from Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, East Timor, Dutch East Indies, and European movies from Japanese occupied territories.

Unsplash

Under Japanese expansion, senior military officers would order for the establishment of ¡®comfort stations,¡¯ where comfort women would be sent to serve the Japanese military. One of the orders reads:

Recently, soldiers have been prowling around everywhere looking for women, and I often heard obscene stories [about their behaviour]. As long as conditions are peaceful and the army is not engaged in fighting, these incidents are difficult to prevent. Rather, we should recognise that we can actively provide facilities. I have considered many policy options for resolving the troops¡¯ sexual problems and have set to work on realising that goal. Lieutenant Cononel Nagami will bear primary responsibility in this matter.

Officers justified that ¡®comfort stations¡¯ were important to boost morals of the soldiers. Also, they believed it would protect the women of household, as selected women will already be provided for soldiers.

How Comfort Women Were Recruited

Japanese brokers recruited women and girls as young as twelve years old from economically weaker households, those who were in need of money. Pamphlets were distributed for the recruitment of factory workers, nurses, etc. Once hired, they were taken forcibly to ¡®comfort stations.¡¯

Unsplash

Women often had to serve from four to five men daily to sixty soldiers. The fees charged by the soldiers were not paid to comfort women, rather to the people who managed the ¡®comfort stations.¡¯ The women were not given basic healthcare facilities. They were subjected to abuse in case they refused to serve the soldiers. One of the survivors OK-Sun Yi shared that when she was caught in her process to escape, she was stabbed in her arm and leg.

The soldiers also made sure that none of them speak to each other in Korean. They were given Japanese name and were forced to speak in Japanese, so they do not plan escape among themselves.

Comfort Women Speaking Out

The first time this issue was ever spoken about was during the Batavia Trials in 1948, when 35 Dutch women spoke out their experiences. However, for the longest, no information was out on what the Asian women underwent. In 1992, Kim Hakson, a Korean survivor, testified in public for the first time. With the help of media, much attention was brought to this.

Unsplash

Fast forwarding to 2005, Japanese government compensated 2 million yen to each survivor from South Korea, Taiwan and Philippines. However, this was protested because the money came from private donations- no involvement of Japanese government in compensation was to be seen. In 2007, the European Parliament, the US national assembly, Netherlands and Canada sent a resolution to Japan to acknowledge and apologise for the sexual slavery. However, South Korea refused to recognise the apology.

In 2015, Japan accepted full responsibility and offered an official apology for the comfort women. Japan also offered 10 million yes to establish the Foundation for Reconciliation and Health in support of the survivors. However, in return they demanded the statue of comfort women to be taken down, which was built right in front of the Seoul¡¯s Japanese Embassy. Japan also asked South Korea to avoid making critical comments to international audience.

Japan¡¯s Stand on Comfort Women

Wikipedia

Japan believes that the issue was settled in 1965 based on the Treat on Basic Relations between Japan and Republic of Korea. Moon-Jae-in, in response dissolved the Foundation for Reconciliation and Health, to which the Foreign Minister Taro Kono said that this decision was completely unacceptable.

Japan is of the view that the recent laws were not applicable in International Law during the World War II. It further believes that the crime of slavery also did not describe the system of ¡®comfort station.¡¯

Strained Relations between Japan and South Korea

This stand of Japan has upset South Korea. The apologetic or the kowtow policy, which Japan was known for, was flipped under Abe. Abe has complained that South Korea¡¯s statements on Japan ruined Japan¡¯s international standing.

A local court in South Korea asked Japanese government to pay compensation to the survivor, to which Japan replied that a local court could have no jurisdiction over this matter.

Getty Image/SCMP

In retaliation, in 2019, Japan also removed South Korea from the Most Favoured Nation list for trading. South Korea also took the vow never to be defeated from Japan. With that, South Korea withdrew from critical three-nation military info. It was an agreement made between the US, Japan and South Korea to share security information with each other. Japan and South Korea have long been allies with the US, however, the tensions that has risen from the historical issue of comfort women have strained relations between the two.