Japan and South Korea are the neighboring states who are just 50 kilometers apart from each other from Tsushima to Iki Island, separated by the Korea strait. What binds these 2 countries together is not only that they are allies of United States but also that they face a constant threat from North Korea and their shared history from the pre–World War 2 era.
The first attempt to invade Korea occurred between 1592-1598. This was unsuccessful due to the death of Tenotomy Hideyoshi leaving Japan with no clear leadership. The successful invasion of Korea at the hands of Japan can be traced back to 1876 with the Japan Korea treaty. The agreement forced the opening of three Korean ports to Japanese commerce, destroyed Korea’s position as China’s protectorate, extended extraterritorial rights to Japanese people, and was unfairly signed under duress. In the successive years the two sides signed 3 more treaties, the Japan Korea Treaty of 1905 (by which Korea became a protectorate of Japan), the Japan Korea Treaty of 1907 (by which Korea was deprived of the administration of internal affairs) and lastly the Japan Korea Treaty of 1910 by which Japan formally annexed Korea. (Lay, E-International Relations, 2018 ) From then until 15 August 1945 Korea remained under the Japanese occupation suffering humiliation from its hand.
The origins of the phrase “comfort women” can be found in Korea during King Sejong’s reign in the fifteenth century. According to history, comfort stations got their start in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), when the Japanese Imperial Army set up army brothels so that its men could purchase sex. When the Japanese Army was stationed in Siberia (1918–1925), then-Russia, after the Russian Revolution, brothels were built at each of the barracks, where troops could go on the weekends for recreation. Although the Meiji government had passed a law known as the “Emancipation of Prostitutes” in 1872, prostitution was still seen as legal under police oversight. Young women from rural regions, mostly the daughters of subsistence farmers, became victims of trafficking and were made to work in brothels in urban areas. They were the ones that were assigned to a comfort station on the battlefield.
The comfort women issue can be seen first coming into light in 1944, when allied forces liberated Japanese captured territory of Burma. Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report 49 described the seizure of two Japanese comfort station proprietors and twenty Korean comfort women from Burma. The report claimed that Japanese soldiers tricked Korean women into serving as comfort women.
Origin of Koreans as comfort women
One finds the mentions of military “comfort stations,” as early 1932. These stations, where sexual needs of Japanese soldiers were fulfilled under official control, were present both in Japan and in other sites of Japanese deployment, till the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Japan chose to utilize Korean women as sex laborers while encouraging Japanese women to marry young and have many children to achieve “the national purpose of motherhood”. Many Chongsindae women were recruited with the false promise of excellent pay for their labor in these institutions and subsequently transported to the military comfort station, despite the fact that others volunteered to work in industries and clinics. Typically, women from low-income households are the first to be taken advantage of in order to satiate the allegedly insatiable sexual desires of males who possess riches, weapons, or power. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Japanese imperial troops chose to target women from low-income, rural households during their “slave hunt” operations. The majority of these women were conscripted under the auspices of that organization, the word Chongsindae has come to be understood in Korea as “military comfort women.” While the official word is Ilbonkun wianbu (comfort women for the Japanese military), South Koreans today commonly refer to the surviving “comfort women” as Chodngsindae halmoni (grandmothers). (Soh, 1996). Another reason why Korean women were abducted as comfort women was that while the majority of Korean comfort women were “young and naive,” the majority of Japanese comfort women were “middle-aged, had been prostitutes before they were enlisted, and some suffered from sexual illnesses. (Akane, 2015) As a result, the army doctors’ council recommended in 1939 that “Korean women be brought to the battlefield” and that “the younger a prostitute the better her quality.” Elderly women were not suitable presents for the imperial army and it needed to think twice before bringing in amoral prostitutes,
When in 1931 Japan’s army invaded China and the soldiers raped and killed tens of thousands of Chinese women in Nanjing, Japan started enlisting Korean women in full force. The Japanese army at the time employed Japanese “comfort women,” most of whom had been professional prostitutes in the past and some of whom had venereal illnesses. The military leadership proposed that the government recruit unmarried young women from colonial Korea as “comfort women” for the Japanese army to stop the spread of disease (Hayashi, 2008) and stop sexual crimes by Japanese soldiers against the women of the occupied territories. These women would be assumed to be virgins as per the Confucian culture where it is shameful to engage in premarital sex and thus making these Korean women free of sexually transmitted diseases.
There were 2 types of comfort women as well. One group consisted of women who were recruited and conscripted by, or with the support of, the highest levels of the Japanese military and other branches of the Japanese government including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Home Ministry was also engaged in operations to move comfort women discreetly from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to mainland China and to key battlefronts of the Pacific War. (Lay, The Origins and Implementation of the Comfort Women System, 2018) . All of the comfort women from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were considered citizens of Japan. Because Korea and Taiwan were seen as being a part of Japan, the national government saw the comfort women from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan as carrying out a patriotic duty by aiding Japan’s war effort. (Lay, The Origins and Implementation of the Comfort Women System, 2018) In fact, women were “coaxed into delivering sexual services to soldiers so as to assist increase their morale and win the war for the welfare of the country.” Koreans and Taiwanese were significantly more trusted by the Japanese authorities than other non-Japanese ethnic groups. In the last stages of the conflict, several of them died alongside soldiers on the front lines. (Koizumi, 2001)
Officially, the Ministry of Defense of Japan was in charge of the second batch of comfort women. Japanese military troops stationed in conquered regions occasionally kidnapped or otherwise forced on-site these women into service. These women were not Japanese (i.e., Korean, Taiwanese, or Japanese) subjects, and instead of being seen as carrying out a national duty, they were seen as “spoils of war” and treated as such. The Japanese military commander in charge of a particular region might direct the hiring of local women to act as comfort women. The majority of Chinese, Dutch, Indonesian, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Filipina women were recruited into the comfort women system in these circumstances. (CHANG, 2009)
Contemporary relevance
It cannot be claimed that no one in Japan knew there were comfort ladies available throughout the war, those who went to battle were aware of their existence. But there was hardly any understanding of the situation as a societal issue. People who were interested in Japan-Korean relations widely understood that comfort women existed and that their experiences were the cruelest consequences of Japan’s invasion of Korea starting about 1910. However, the victims were merely considered to be historical figures. With the discovery and publishing of documents from the Japanese Self-Defense Agency’s library (Wikipedia, n.d.) by Yoshimi Yoshiaki it was thus confirmed that Japanese army and the state was involved in comfort women recruitment and their usage. Since 1951 Japan started to resolve the comfort women issue and after 14 years of back and forth with South Korea it was finally able to sign a treaty. According to the treaty Japan compensated South Korea in the following ways: $300 million grant in economic aid, $200 million in loans together with $300 million in loans for private trust, a total of $800 million as “reparation fee” that Japan paid for their illegal occupation.
In the 1980s, the issue of comfort women in the Japanese military first came to light. Prior to the 1980s, the majority of war-related literature produced in Japan dealt on Japanese suffering, such as that experienced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as with American airstrikes against Japanese cities. However, the 1982 history textbook controversy, in which the Ministry of Education ordered the removal of any allusions to Japanese aggression and crimes from history textbooks, had a significant influence on Japan. Other Asian nations such as China & South Korea expressed harsh condemnation, and many Japanese were made aware of the type and scope of Japanese aggression during the war. (Hayashi, 2008)There were a number of military veterans who started speaking more candidly about their prior deeds caused more focus on this issue.
With the return of democracy in South Korea the comfort women issue again started gaining momentum and thus Kim Hak-sun became the first to come out in August 1991 to share her tale, after the Japanese government denied that the state was involved, and rejected requests for apologies and compensation, in a June 1991 Diet session. Thus, a group of surviving women, breaking decades of quiet, launched a class-action lawsuit against the Japanese government, bringing the topic of comfort women (Lynch, n.d.) to the attention of the world. The ladies and those who supported them filed a lawsuit seeking damages for alleged violations of human rights. Under criticism from the public, the Japanese government acknowledged its involvement in the scandal and in 1994 and established the public-private Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) to pay former comfort women. The money was also utilized to put out the official Japanese account of the situation. Former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama presented a signed apology to 61 Korean, 13 Taiwanese, 211 Filipino, and 79 Dutch former comfort women. (Wikipedia, n.d.).Since the Asian Women’s Fund was established by the Japanese government but its funding came from private donations rather than government funding, the compensation was not “official,” which is why many former Korean comfort women refused the payments out of principle. In the end, 141 former Korean comfort women received funding from the Korean government, while 61 former Korean comfort women accepted 5 million yen (about $42,000) each from the AWF along with the written apology.
In 2004, the Japanese Minister of Education said it would be preferable to stop mentioning Japanese crimes like the comfort women system. A mention of Korean forced labor was essentially eliminated from junior high school history textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education in April 2005 for use starting in 2006. Additionally, “comfort women” is no longer mentioned in textbooks. (Scarbrough, 2008)The Ministry of Education, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the right-leaning media pressured the media to substantially reduce mention of Japanese aggression and atrocities overall. (Hayashi, 2008) With the response of PM Abe when asked about the comfort women existence and the consequent reexamining of the Japanese findings by Yoshihide Suga in 2014 and again sticking to the findings reported in 2007 made the issue worsen up. Further the 2019 statement by the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Japan stating that the term “sex slaves” is misleading and thus should not been used caused much anger.
Why does the issue continue to remain a thorn
Japan’s efforts to deal with the past got off to a bad start soon after World War II. (Kosuke, 2022) The U.S. occupation troops swiftly freed Emperor Hirohito of culpability for the war, notably any personal moral responsibility as the country’s wartime leader. Even rightwing leaders such as Sasakawa Ryoichi and Kodama Kiyoshi, as well as Kishi Nobusuke, the minister of business and industry under Tojo Hideki’s martial rule, were all freed. To add to that the electing of Nobusuke Kishi as PM of Japan gave a strong signal about the stance of Japan on the issue of comfort women.
There is a back on forth on Japan’s stance at the issue as well. Japan needs to come to a decision that whether comfort women were a reality. For instance, former Japanese PM Tomiichi Murayama & Kiichi Miyazawa along with Japanese Chief Government Spokesman Koichi Kato & Shinsuke Sugiyama Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs apologized for the comfort women issue, but then former PM like Shinzo Abe & Yoshihide Suga deny the comfort women’s existence. This makes Japan’s stance on the issue very unclear and therefore making the issue to come to an end difficult.
Many Japanese believe they have apologized and expressed regret enough. More than a few Japanese have attempted to atone in some way for the crimes committed by their ancestors, (Shibata, 2017) despite the fact that South Korea, China, and other countries waived war reparations and Tokyo has no legal obligation to compensate war victims including forced laborer and comfort women. (Takahashi, 2008) since apart from China none of the countries who received reparations were signatory to the San Francisco agreement, yet Japan paid Korea thrice in the form of Asian Women Fund, the reparation as per the 1965 treaty and the 2015 agreement.
The compensation also acts as a disagreement between the two sides. As mentioned above that Japan had paid compensation in the 1965 treaty, through Asian Women Fund set up in 1995 and then again in 2015 after the talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. But in all the three cases the compensation has failed. Japan thinks that South Korea is robbing them since the compensation it had agreed upon in the 1965 treaty should have been the only compensation which it had to pay and it not their fault that Park Chung-hee administration did not give the money to the victims rather used it for developmental activities throughout the country. The Japanese state that they had offered the Chung-hee government to pay the victims themselves but it was he who decided to take the amount on a lump sum and thus Japan should not be blamed for his actions. This was confirmed in 2005 when Korean government had released the details of the treaty. The Asian Women fund was another way of compensation even though the Japanese government did not directly contribute to it yet the organization was founded by them and therefore the compensation which the victims were receiving through it should have closed the matter once and for all but it did not end there. In 2015 Japan paid compensation money to the victims after the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Seventh and Eighth Periodic Reports. Therefore, Japan feels that with every change in government there is a new treaty which is only a way to get money out from the pockets of Japan and it is not Japan’s fault that the existing governments of Korea does not take in the viewpoints of the victims, or there is a governmental change, or the money is not reaching the victims as Japan does its part on the issue.
From South Korea’s point of view, it feels that Japan is not doing much. It feels that Japan’s apology has not been serious in the first place even though former Japanese PM’s have sent out written apology as well as have apologized in the South Korean National Assembly. Also, the fact that former prisoner of wars such as Nobusuke Kishi and Japanese emperor Hirohito were not brought into account for the crimes they did rather were set free by US in order to better control Japan hurts them till this day.
The problem is not only with the government but also with who is running it in case of South Korea. While the military dictatorship ruled over South Korea it wanted to have a close relation with Japan in order to develop the country better and also due to pressure from US who had its own vested interest to control the spread of communism in the east. With the democratization of the nation the view changed and as South Korea gained military and economic strength it started to look Japan in the eye. Even in the democratic rule the stance of the leaders is very different and every successive leader deal in a different manner in order to gain support of the people since the issue is highly politicized.
Another issue within South Korea is the corruption within the government and how the handle the funds given to it by Japan for the comfort women. Since 1965 the funds given to the comfort women have rather been redirected for the development of the country or the victims have not received them fully. Also, the fact that the reparations are being given by the government of Korea and not by the Japanese government is another reason why the former comfort women did not take up the reparations which were offered by Asian Women fund. (Framing the Comfort Women: Non-governmental organizations and the United Nations framing the issue from 2008 till 2018, 2020)
Along with the money the apology is another reason why South Korea is not letting go of the reason. As mentioned above that the comfort women are highly politicized. Even though 2 former Japanese PM’s have apologized in oral and written manner the fact that their successive PM’s have denied the existence of comfort women washes away all the efforts made and makes the wounds anew for the country and the sufferers. Since the state of Japan does not have a clear stand on the issue the back and forth makes Korea feel that its being mocked. Thus, making the issue to keep going on.
The involvement of China also complicates the issue as South Korea has an alternative to Japan and currently Beijing is not seen as a threat thus allowing Korea to have an upper hand and let the issue to linger on. Closer relations with China are possible as the two nations bond over the mutual suffering they have shared at the hands of imperial Japanese army and also due to the past relationship between the two countries which has been there since centuries where China has always acted as an elder brother to Korea. Another reason why Seoul is closer to Beijing is that it feels that the only solution to the Korean peninsula issue can come through China as China has close relations with DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)
Conclusion
President Park has encouraged a patriotic mentality at home that presented South Korea as being strong on Japan by insisting that Japan first solve historical concerns with its annexation of Korea more than 100 years ago. Since then, South Korea has built museums and sculptures honoring its comfort women not just in South Korea but also in numerous Korean-dominated areas of the US, like Glendale, California. Political reconciliation is very unlikely in these circumstances since China is able to successfully push a gap between these two countries.
The two countries had a chance of reconciliation on the matter in 2015. In addition to being the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, 2015 also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the normalization of ties between South Korea and Japan but sadly nothing much on this issue could happen. The Japanese PM Shinzo Abe did expresses “deep remorse over the past war,” but stopped short of offering apologies. He offered “eternal condolences” to US victims of the Second World War, but he did not explicitly apologize for the comfort women issue and only alluded to it by stating, “Armed conflicts have always made women suffer the most.” (Akaha, GlobalAsia, 2015)
The recent developments have further severed the possibility of the resolution of the issue. With the Korean court ordering the government of Japan to pay 100 million Won over the money it paid in 2015 agreement to settle the issue it sure looks like exploitation. Further ordering Japanese companies like Mitsubishi to pay and seizing of Japanese companies assets due to the refusal of Japan to pay the extra money just goes on to show that the issue is not going to be resolved soon as Japan says that through the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Relating to Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation, (Wikipedia, n.d.) the matter has already been fully and entirely resolved but Korea is adamant on its stand that A real settlement would come if the victims can forgive, after Japan makes a sincere apology and takes other actions. Thus, showing that the two sides are poles apart not looking to back down.
