뉴스레터

The Japanese government reversed its position on sexual slavery victims

On August 14, 1991, Kim hak-soon revealed her identity and testified about her damage caused by sexual slavery victims for the Japanese Imperial army. Her testimony has been a starting point and many researchers and civic activists have been trying to uncover the truth of the matter. On August 4, 1993, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono announced his statement. He acknowledged that the Japanese government and the Japanese military were involved in mobilizing sexual slaves and establishing and operating a so called ‘comfort station’ and apologized for it. With the Kono Statement, the issue of sexual slavery victims was described in Japanese middle school and high school textbooks. However, in March 2007, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to deny the forced mobilization of sexual slaves in the cabinet. The decision led to criticism from the international community. The United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the EU Congress adopted a resolution calling on the Japanese government to acknowledge and apologize for historical facts and to educate future generations about them. The Abe regime, which re-elected in December 2012, spread the negative perception that Kono Statement is not a reflection of historical facts but a product of diplomatic negotiations between Korea and Japan. Since the announcement of the agreement between the Korean and Japanese governments on the issue of sexual slavery victims in December 2015, Japan has begun to deny the facts about forced mobilization and sexual slave more actively than before. The descriptions related to the sexual slavery victims for the Japanese Imperial Army in the textbook were reduced or disappeared. Recently, there have been people in Korea who deny that sexual slaves have been forced.

A picture of a Korean ‘comfort women’ being questioned by U.S.military forces in Michina, Burma, on August 14, 1944

Regiment and remember to solve the problem of sexual slavery victims

Those who faced the move to deny the historical fact that sexual slavery victims for the Japanese imperial army, worked together across the border to clarify the issue and try to remember the victim. Aug. 14 was designated International Memorial Day for the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims during the 11th Asian Solidarity Conference on Resolution of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery in 2012. In December 2017, the Korean National Assembly designated Memorial Day for the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims as a national anniversary. This year is the third year. NAHF has been holding academic conferences since last year to commemorate this Memorial Day. The theme of the year is <The Sexual Slavery Victims for the Japanese Imperial Army Issues in Historical Data>.

Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims is the damage caused by the Japanese invasion

Since its establishment in 2006, NAHF has set up research and survey projects on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims as its main core tasks. In September 2018, the Research Center was established to expand and deepen the scope of research. The problems associated with the Japan Military Sexual Slavery Victims are two aspects: It is a violation of women's rights in the event of a war or armed conflict, and damage caused by the invasion by Japanese imperialism. The problems associated with the Japan Military Sexual Slavery Victims are two aspects: It is the fact that it violated the rights of women in the event of a war or armed conflict, and the damage caused by the invasion by Japanese imperialism. This problem is more evident when the colonial rule of Japan and the victim of Koreans are analyzed at the same time. The NAHF focuses on the damage caused by the invasion by the Japanese imperialists, and investigates, collects and studies data before liberation in 1945.

Efforts for the discovery, arrangement and sharing of historical data related to the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims

In 2018, NAHF compiled domestic and foreign official documents collected by various organizations, civic activists, and researchers, and published four books. The books were published on NAHF’s website(http://contents.nahf.or.kr) to allow the use of the data, including the researcher and the general public. It contains 589 Japanese documents, 202 Allied documents, 135 Chinese documents, 53 Taiwanese documents, and 60 Thai documents. Japanese documents and Thai documents can also check the original text. Some documents also included translations. B, C class war crimes, 190 Tokyo trials, and 14 data released in 2017 and 2018 are being updated. This work is based on the achievements of many researchers and civic activists. I pay homage and gratitude to your efforts in the meantime.

From this year, we started publishing historical data books in connection with NAHF's source book on Japan innovation history. A total of 10 books will be published by 2022. In July, two books were published: 『The Mobilization of the Sexual Slavery and the Establishment of ‘comfort women’ station』 and 『Operation of the ‘Comfort Station’ and Punishment for Crime』

『War crimes, and Damage from Japanese Military Sexual Slavery - A statement written in the handwriting of a Japanese war criminal who invaded China』 is in the process of publishing. The Japanese war criminal's statement is a document in a book published in China in 2015 and 2017, and the original text can be found on the website of Dangangwan in China.

In the future, NAHF will collect and organize various data and open it through Northeast Asian History Network. The most effective way to respond to attempts to deny historical facts about the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims is to share and inform the relevant data. Translation of each data into English to spread this issue to the international community is a task given to NAHF.