Session 1. The Implications of the 30th anniversary of Kim Hak-soon’s Public Testimony
Kim Hak-soon’s Testimony and History of Movement in Japan YANG Ching-ja I Co-chair, Japan Nationwide Action for the Resolution of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue, Japan
1. The Beginning of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Movement in Japan Similar to how the Japanese military “comfort women” movement in Korea was sparked by the devotion of an individual, Yun Chung-ok, the beginning of the movement in Japan was led by Takahashi Kikue. Born in 1933, Takahashi became a member of the Japanese Christian Women’s Organization (Kyofukai) in 1957. Later, as the director of the Anti-Prostitution Association1 formed in 1973, she became a pioneer in the movement against sex tourism and the Japanese military “comfort women” movement. In July 1973, the Korea Church Women United (KCWU) submitted a statement condemning sex tourism at the first Korea-Japan Church Council held in Seoul. When a Japanese representative who attended the council returned with the statement, it shocked Takahashi who responded, “This is a serious issue. As a Japanese Christian woman, I cannot let down Korean Christian women.”
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Takahashi visited Korea and conducted research with
Yamaguchi Akiko from the National Christian Council in Japan (NCC) in November 1973.3 And as a part of the movement against sex tourism, Takahashi participated in the “International Seminar on Women and Tourism Culture” (held at Jeju YMCA Campsite with 130 people from 10 different countries), which was hosted by the KCWU in April 1988, where she first learned about Yun Chung-ok's investigation report on the Japanese military “comfort women.”
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The Anti-Prostitution Association was first formed by the consolidation of National Council on Prostitution Prevention (formed in 1953), which was formed by 22 civic groups, and Okinawa Anti-Prostitution Association in order to support the Prostitution Prevention Law (promulgated in 1956, enacted in April 1957). The organization was later renamed to Anti-Sexual Violence Association and dismissed in 2018. Takahashi Kikue, Baibaishun mondai ni torikumu (売買春問題ととりくむ), Akashi Shoten, 2004. Born in 1935, Yamaguchi Akiko participated in the anti-sex tourism movement with Takahashi and she has been an active participant of the “comfort women” issue movement to this day.
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