The “Comfort Women”: A Silent Struggle & Ongoing Fight

The “Comfort Women”: A Silent Struggle and Ongoing Fight

Jack Birns, A Nationalist officer guarding women prisoners said to be “comfort girls” used by the Communists, 1948, https://www.history.com/ne, Fair use.

Between 1932 and 1945, the Japanese military forced tens of thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery.1 The military transferred these women to what it called comfort stations where they were given the title of “comfort women.” Reports have revealed that there were between 100,000 and 200,000 “comfort” women during this time.2 Although eighty percent of these women were Korean, the Japanese military also took women from China and the Philippines.3 The “comfort women” were primarily lower-class Koreans, reflecting Japanese ideas of dominance over Koreans. The demeanor of superiority was an extension of Japan’s colonization of Korea in the late nineteenth century, and its possession in 1910 of the Korean peninsula.4 The Japanese military also forced Japanese women to work at comfort stations; these women were assigned to officers and Korean women were assigned to soldiers.5

Comfort stations were controlled by Japanese civilian proprietors and the military. While at these stations, when they were not serving soldiers sexually, women performed household duties for soldiers such as cooking, laundering, and mending. Comfort stations were open the entire day. Soldiers usually paid a sum of money, which was shared between the proprietor and the woman. Whether it was evenly divided or not is unknown. Some stations permitted the women one day off each month; other stations provided no time off. “Comfort women” could not leave their station without military approval. The patriarchal control in the stations kept women isolated from the public world so they could not expose secrets to potential spies.6

The Japanese military justified the violation of these women’s basic human rights by pointing to the need to restore the image of the imperial army and the honour of Japanese soldiers and Japan, protecting the health of soldiers, and reducing medical costs.7 The rape of women by multiple soldiers resulted in sexually transmitted infections, ultimately reducing soldiers’ ability to perform in battle.8

The lived experience of “comfort women” was extremely traumatic. They had been “coerced into comfort stations by traffickers posing as legitimate employers or were sacrificed as a contribution to the war effort.”9 Many survivors testify to being abducted, abused and abandoned at the end of the war. Kimiko Kaneda was only sixteen when she believed she had secured a job as a housemaid. Instead, the Japanese military sent her by a train to a comfort station where she was brutally abused.10 Maria Rosa Henson was the first “comfort woman” from the Philippines to come forward as a survivor. Japanese soldiers in the Philippines had sexually assaulted her repeatedly. When she joined a group protesting against the Japanese military, she was arrested and forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman.”

At the end of the war, the military killed many of the women. Others were left to fend for themselves and find their own way home, many died before returning home.11 Those who did survive suffered silently for the better half of a century.12 Their experience and trauma was silenced by the patriarchal society that believed issues surrounding women’s rights should stay private.13 Survivors became victims of discrimination at the hands of their families and communities. Both placed little value on these women and their experience. Culturally, Korean survivors were urged to keep quiet and forget their past lives as “comfort women.”14 Deemed as damaged, survivors often experienced great shame being retraumatized by the denial of their wartime experience.

Both the Japanese and South Korean governments denied their part in these women’s trauma for almost half a century. The patriarchal society in both countries “played the greatest role of all in perpetuating the crime.”15 Women experienced discrimination, and were accorded no value or respect during this time.16 The prolonged silence of the survivors was due in large part to the “broader concerns of social movements”17 which were controlled by men. It was not until 1980 that women’s movements in Korea confronted the Japanese Government about the “comfort women.” They demanded public acknowledgement, apology, investigation, compensation and greater awareness of this history in the classroom.18 Because the Japanese government had destroyed many of the official records at the end of the war, the testimony of survivors became an essential source in ensuring this history was not erased.

The work and efforts of many feminist movements highlighted the trafficking of women as a violation of human rights. meant that the experience of survivors could be addressed without the focus on shame. Kim Hak Sun was the first Korean woman to break the silence publicly in Seoul, Korea in 1991.21 The first Filipina woman to break the silence was Maria Rosa Henson. female victims of sexual assault by the Korean and Japanese military officials had shared their stories in the 1980s, paving the way for Kim Hak Sun to share her story.23 She played an instrumental role in demanding acknowledgement from the government.

In 1992, Japanese historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi exposed the existence of archival documents verifying Japanese military plans to build and use comfort stations. This resulted in an investigation by the Japanese government and, in discovering official documents, an acknowledgement of Japanese military and government involvement. The Japanese government released an official apology later that year and again in 1993.24 In 1995 Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and President of the Asian Women’s Fund Bunbei Hara took concrete action by sending a letter to each surviving victim and providing atonement money of 2 million yen per person. also received medical care and welfare support. The atonement money was not the acknowledgement the survivors had been fighting for. The survivors wanted their war experience recognized in history textbooks and the education system. However, the Ministry of Education has “fought to rehabilitate Japan’s war,”26 in turn minimizing the traumatic experience of the “comfort women.” Many Japanese citizens support undermining the “comfort woman” history to prevent the criminalization of the masculine state of Japan, which would undermine its power.27

This is why the fight for justice continues. The Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) founded in 1995 carried out national atonement projects with the Japanese government and people.28 These projects were completed in 2007 inducing the dissolvement of the AWF. The fight for recognitions that this was a war crime and violation of human rights continued after 2007. In 2011 the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan erected a statue called the “Statue of Peace” in Seoul, South Korea to memorialize the victims.30 This monument reflects the testimonies of the survivors, whose experiences and trauma are still considered by the Japanese government to be unreliable narratives. sits next to an empty chair, which symbolizes the “lost agency”32 of the “comfort women.” This monument “serves as a witness to the violent incomprehensibility of rape”33 and the loss it entails. The young girl’s features, such as her short hair, represent the lack of free will of the “comfort women.”34 The empty chair recognizes many survivors have passed away; it is an invitation to those who want to join the fight for justice.35 Currently there is great uproar over the possible removal of this statue. South Koreans fear this statue with its commentary on silence indicates their complicity in the comfort stations. Many countries support the public reminder the statue evokes.36

Unfortunately, many survivors have died over the last few decades, especially those like Kim Hak Sun who were instrumental in the recognition of this issue as the violation of women’s humans’ rights. Those who did not come forward remained silent. When they die, they will be permanently silenced. The ongoing battle over recognizing and remembering the lived experience of these women is critical to ensure their own experiences of war—and the lessons of violence against women as an integral part of war37—will remain part of the historical record.

Both the Japanese and South Korean governments denied their part in these women’s trauma for almost half a century. The patriarchal Women experienced discrimination, and were The prolonged silence of the survivors was due in large part to the “broader concerns which were controlled by men. It was not until 1980 that women’s movements in Korea confronted the Japanese Government about the “comfort women.” They demanded public acknowledgement, apology, investigation, compensation Because the Japanese government had destroyed many of the official records at the end of the war, the testimony of survivors became an essential source in ensuring this history was not erased.19

The work and efforts of many feminist movements highlighted the trafficking of women as a violation of human rights.20 This approach meant that the experience of survivors could be addressed without the focus on shame. Kim Hak Sun was the first Korean woman to The first Filipina woman to break the silence was Maria Rosa Henson.22 Two other female victims of sexual assault by the Korean and Japanese military officials had shared their stories in the 1980s, paving the way for She played an instrumental role in demanding acknowledgement from the government.

In 1992, Japanese historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi exposed the existence of archival documents verifying Japanese military plans to build and use comfort stations. This resulted in an investigation by the Japanese government and, in discovering official documents, an acknowledgement of Japanese military and government involvement. The Japanese government released an official apology later In 1995 Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and President of the Asian Women’s Fund Bunbei Hara took concrete action by sending a letter to each surviving victim and providing atonement money of 2 million yen per person.25 Survivors also received medical care and welfare support. The atonement money was not the acknowledgement the survivors had been fighting for. The survivors wanted their war experience recognized in history textbooks and the education system. However, the Ministry of in turn minimizing the traumatic experience of the “comfort women.” Many Japanese citizens support undermining the “comfort woman” history to prevent the criminalization of the masculine state of Japan,

This is why the fight for justice continues. The Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) founded in 1995 carried out national atonement These projects were completed in 2007 inducing the dissolvement of the AWF. The fight for recognitions that this was a war crime and violation of human rights continued after 2007.29 In 2011 the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan erected a statue called the This monument reflects the testimonies of the survivors, whose experiences and trauma are still considered by the Japanese government to be unreliable narratives.31 A young girl of the “comfort women.” This monument “serves as a witness and the loss it entails. The young girl’s features, such as her short hair, represent The empty chair recognizes many survivors have passed away; it is an invitation Currently there is great uproar over the possible removal of this statue. South Koreans fear this statue with its commentary on silence indicates their complicity in the comfort stations.

Unfortunately, many survivors have died over the last few decades, especially those like Kim Hak Sun who were instrumental in the recognition of this issue as the violation of women’s humans’ rights. Those who did not come forward remained silent. When they die, they will be permanently silenced. The ongoing battle over recognizing and remembering the lived experience of these women is critical to ensure their own experiences of war—and the lessons of violence against women as an integral

Grace K. English (she/her)

Education major, Gender Studies minor