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Koran comfort women
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Weekly reading response to comfort women issue
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During the Japanese colonial period of Korea, numerous unethical,and inhumaneexploitation were done to Korean civilians recruited as workers of the Japanese Empire. They
were paid unequally as the Japanese workers, and often worked in hazardous conditions(ex.
Battleship island). In the female’s case, they were forcefully used as sex slaves in Japanese
militray. This is so called ‘Comfort Women’, they were present from post Second World War to
the end of the War. Korean womens were not the only involved, the Japanese military had
‘taken’ womens from Japanese occupied East Asia. These womens were recruited in different
ways, either by false recruitment letters ensuring high payment, sold by traffickers, or were
abducted from their hometowns or battlefronts.“Women across the Asia-Pacific whom the
Japanese military coerced into prostitution during Japan’s colonial rule over East Asia and the
Asia-Pacific”(Ushiyama, 2021).These womens were used to increase royalty and release stress
of Japanese soldiers during the war. In the records, there used to be special booth/station
where these womens were located.“During the war, the Japanese government and military used
the term ‘comfort station’ (ianjo) or ‘comfort facility’ (ian shisetsu), but typically used terms such
as ‘bar maids’ (shakufu) or ‘special women’ (tokushu fujo) to describe the women in these
‘facilities’”(Suzuki, 2021)
It may seem like there would’ve been a tense diplomatic relationship between Korea and
Japan after their liberation. However, this had not been an issue between Korea and Japan until
the late nineteenth century.
“Despite the scale of the human rights abuses, reparations for comfort women did not
become a diplomatic issue between Japan and the affected nation-states until the late twentieth
century”(Ushiyama 2021)”
This is when the military supported right winged government had been replaced with left wing
government(so called moon-min-jeong bo,文民政府). Before then, the Korean atmosphere of
anti-communism had been a major issue(with Japan and Korea bening only two free countries
in East Asia, it was hard for them to criticize).
In the present day, with the opening of the second cold war, the free western world
requires smooth collaboration of both. For the Japanese government, is it worth having a
conflict with South Korea?
“In the patriarchal society of South Korea, Kim had kept silent for a long time. However, with her
official appearance, the growing movement to address the comfort women issue strengthened
and it became a focus of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.”(Kim 2020)
History, scholastically, is a great pool of study, but it’s also a great way of propaganda, to give
their citizens ‘pride’ of being part of their history. This also applies to Germany's case. The
German had apologized(unlike the Japnaese) to victims of the holocaust, after the second
World War. This is because it is not the same regime as the ‘Nazi Germany’,to appeal that they
are different to the public. However, in the case of Japan, the United States had not interfered
with their governmental structure, or given any kind of economic sanctions(this is to keep in
check the Soviet). This is the reason for the Japanese government refusing to agree on the
comfort women issue. Additionally this is also the reason the Japanese government is acting
sensitive to the ‘Sonyeosang’ which is the statue for memorial of ‘comfort women’.
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