Newsletter

Seventy years have passed since Japan's defeat in WWII, but the victims of military sexual slavery by Japan, or former 'comfort women,' still have war trauma and they are demanding an official apology and legal compensation from Japan. In 2015, the House of Sharing continues to work toward establishing the correct history and restoring the human rights of the victims through various projects at home and abroad, the first of which was to translate from Korean into English TOUCH-ME-NOTS, a children's history book by Yoon Jungmo about Korean women who were forced to become 'sexual slaves' for the Japanese military.

This book was designed in the hope of inspiring children (even one child) to have a kind heart to understand and recognize the courage that the former 'comfort women' mustered to break the silence of darkness and come forward to give testimony in public. It was also designed to open their eyes to the horrible suffering caused by war and the importance of peace. Illustrated by the former 'comfort women' themselves who live in the House of Sharing. this is a book of great historical significance and value. The illustrations created with their art skills that may not be perfect but have a pure heart remind us of the historical mistake yet to be corrected, and make us feel the victims' longing for a world in which the history of injustice will not be repeated.

The Victims Tell Their Stories through (Their) Illustrations

The book features 14 of the 200 illustrations that are on display at the 'Comfort Women' Museum affiliated with the House of Sharing. They are: six illustrations by the late Ms. Kim Soon-deok ('Picking Grains,' 'Taken,' 'Poor Touch-Me-Not! It Will Bloom Again in Due Time,' 'In the Ship Taking Me Away,' 'Then and There,' and 'Flowers That Were Picked Before They Bloomed'); two illustrations by Ms. Kim Bok-dong ('Home', and 'The Day I Was Taken'); five illustrations by the late Ms. Kang Deok-kyeong ('The Rabaul Comfort Station,' 'Violated Innocence,' 'The Matsushiro Comfort Station,' 'A Japanese Soldier Picking the Pears,' 'Apologize to Us'); and one illustration by Ms. Kang Il-chool ('Virgins Being Burned').

What started out as an art class program for the former 'comfort women' living in the House of Sharing turned into art therapy sessions as it went on, allowing them to release their resentment and anger which had weighed down on them for nearly fifty years. Their illustrations depict: the victims' home as they remembered it as innocent children (innocence); the life of deep resentment that they had to lead back home after the war, bound by the memory of their past (bitterness, resentment); their commitment and hope for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government as they disclosed the war crimes and overcame their life of alienation after giving testimony about 'comfort women' (hope); and finally their life of accepting who they are and taking it to higher levels (another kind of innocence). The story centers on the character named 'Sooni' who is based on the late Ms. Kim Hak-soon, the first to have revealed herself to be a former 'comfort woman.'

Japan's revision and distortion of history is very hurtful to the surviving former 'comfort women.' For example, there is a book, Yoko's Story, in which the Japanese during the period of their occupation of the Korean Peninsula are depicted as victims rather than perpetrators. Originally titled So Far from the Bamboo Grove, it is an autobiographical novel by the Japanese American author Yoko Kawashima Watkins, published in 1986. The book follows the journey of a Japanese girl and her family leaving the Korean Peninsula after the fall of Imperial Japan, and recounts how Japanese women were raped and assaulted by Koreans in the process, describing the Japanese as victims and the Korean as perpetrators. Written through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, this book also has dramatic elements, and is known to have been adopted as an English reading text by many schools in the U.S. In a nutshell, this children's book comes as another invasion to the Koreans, a black comedy where the perpetrators and the victims are switched.

TOUCH-ME-NOTS contains the historical truth, and the House of Sharing distributes copies of the book to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Those who wish to participate in donations can do so by contacting the House of Sharing by email '(y365@chol.com). All donations will be spent on reprinting the book.

Real Support Needed for the 'Comfort Women' Records to be Listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register

The House of Sharing was established in the early 1990s, when the 'comfort women' issue started to be addressed in earnest, with donations from people around the country to build a home for former 'comfort women' who at the time were barely making ends meet. There are ten former 'comfort women' living at the House of Sharing. They are urging the Japanese government to reveal the truth about the 'comfort women' program and make an official apology, and also giving testimony at home and abroad to recover their honor.

The Korean government is striving to list the records of 'comfort women' on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register by 2017. But much more active support is needed before they can be actually listed. Particularly needed is support for securing (storing) private materials and for improving the poor maintenance of materials. The excellence of 3,060 primary sources at the House of Sharing was proven as they were registered at the National Archives of Korea in December 2013. These records of testimony need to be organized into book form before they could be listed on the UNESCO Register, but there are not enough people available who are specialized in organizing the records of testimony, and immediate action needs to be taken to fix it. By running the memorial park, the records gallery, and the 'comfort women' history museum in a systematic manner in order to raise awareness of why it is necessary to list the records of testimony on the UNESCO Register, resolve the issue of women's human rights, and prevent the violation of women's human rights, we need to teach our future generations to make sure that the tragic history will not be repeated. Finally, permanent 'comfort women' exhibition halls need to be secured in every peace museum in the world so that the whole world will know and learn more about Japan's wrong perception of history and how women's human rights have been violated.