뉴스레터

Jung Jin-sung, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Seoul National University

She graduated from Seoul National University with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, USA. She has served as a Member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Advisory of the UN Human Rights Council, Vice Chairman of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Researcher of Korea-Japan Joint History Research Committee, Co-Representative of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, Director of SNU Institute for Social Development and Policy Research and Human Rights Center. Jung Jin-sung has been a president of the Korean Association of Human Rights Studies, the Korean Sociological Association, and the Korean Association of Women's Studies, and has published a number of books and papers on women’s rights, Korea-Japan relations, and postcolonial history.

Q1: The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal celebrated its 20th anniversary. How do you feel as vice chairman of the Korean side at the time?

When I look at the Japanese government denying the Japanese sexual slavery system for the past 20 years, I feel that they have regressed. On the other hand, civic groups that have been continuing the movement with one issue for more than 30 years come to mind, and I think that these contradictions coexist in the world. We are still demanding substantial and legal solutions for victims, apology and compensation from the Japanese government. However, I think it is more meaningful that movement has expanded to scholars, lawyers, teachers, students, and civil society around the world since The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal.

Q2. Tell me about the background of The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal and the situational flow to the venue.

The women's movement in Asia, including Korea and Japan, has continued to grow. The reason why Korean women's organizations took this issue to international organizations such as the United Nations was because they felt limited in demanding the Japanese government to solve the issue of Japanese sexual slavery. At the same time, there was a growing interest in violence against women under the war in Yugoslavia. So our questioning could have been brought to the attention of the international community. Moreover, experience in Japanese and American courts, recommendations from international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Labor Organization, and international legal judgments of international NGOs were accumulated, and the concept of court was created within confidence in solidarity with civic groups around the world.

The International Commission of Jurists surveyed sexual slavery victims for the Japanese imperial army and related figures in Korea, North Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. And they defined the responsibility of the Japanese government as 'war crimes' and 'crime against humanity' and analyzed it carefully. Radhika Coomaraswamy's report, submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1996, defines the Japanese military 'comfort women' as military sexual slavery during the war. A report by Gay J. McDougall of the UN the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 1998 included the Japanese government's responsibility for the Japanese sexual slavery system. But this judgment or recommendation alone could not move Japan. Eventually, amid the contradictions of accumulating international legal interpretations and the frustration of problem solving, women in Asian affected countries resolve to hold The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal at the 5th Asian Solidarity Conference. The court modeled on the 1967 Russell Tribunal. This led activists, feminists, sociologists, as well as international law scholars and historians to join movement for prosecution, and spread to ordinary citizens and college students to lead movement.

Q3. What was the issue in the process of conducting The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal?

The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal was full of issues from the beginning. Seoul and Tokyo were discussed as the venues to be held. The reason why Seoul was the candidate was that Korea is the country with the most victims, and that it is a place where the movement needs to spread in the future, and that the Coloniality of the Japanese sexual slavery system should be highlighted. But Japan convinced Tokyo to hold the court in the sense that it complemented and completed the shortage of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal after World War II. This was the first issue.

The following issue was to establish the formality of international courts based on fairness and trust. We discussed for a long time whether to put the authority and strictness of the court, and to create an open court that conveys the message. The presiding judge was Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. But the day before the court was held, she said, "This court will be serious as a real trial, not a mock court." She emphasized formality, and we were worried about what would happen if the ruling came out unexpectedly. Fortunately, it did not happen, and it was possible to have legal authority.

And the most sensitive part of this court was to prosecute Hirohito in the responsibility of the 'person'. Some people thought it was difficult to prosecute Hirohito considering that he was a divine being in Japan. However, Yoon Jung-ok strongly insisted that the meaning of the court would be faded except for the chief executive officer of the issue, and eventually decided to prosecute Hirohito.

Q4. Is there any part that has not been resolved by The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal?

The regrettable part is that the Japanese sexual slavery was limited to violence against women in the war. In the preparation process, there were several opinions that the colonial issue should be faced and overcome, but the discussion did not progress. Because all Asian countries were not in the same position as Korea, we did not deal with imperialism and colonial issues deeply. That was the obvious limit. At that time, we should have defined the nature of the colonial problem, but it is regrettable that we left it as a task again.

Some Japanese politicians say there is no evidence of assault or intimidation of women. However, evidence that the Japanese government and the military forced the ‘comfort women’ to be recruited is found all over the world. There are numerous documents, including reports of the Japanese Navy's forced sexual assault and sexual assault found in the National Archives of Netherlands, and documents found in the National Archives and Records Administration. However, Japan is also arguing that the Individual Rights of Reparation Claim on the issue of 'comfort women' has disappeared with the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea in 1965. The issue of the Japanese military 'comfort women' is more than war crimes, crime against humanity, violence against women. We should not forget that this is a crime committed by forced mobilization of women in the colonial invasion and domination and imperialist war of Japanese imperialism.

Q5. What if there was the most impressive scene in The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal?

The most impressive thing in preparing for the court was the joint prosecution between the two Koreas and the cooperation of the Koreans in Japan. This is a significant result of inter-Korean harmony and national unity at the civil society level. Of course, there was a limit to exchanging opinions only through Koreans in Japan or organizations in Japan. Because of these realistic difficulties, the two Koreas first met two days before the court. So how nervous we must have been. Even in that urgent situation, we discussed the contents of the indictment, checked the data prepared by the two sides, conceded little by little, and shared the role. At that time, North Korea continued its hard-line remarks emphasizing the crime of comfort women and Japan's national responsibility. It is because the cause of the Japanese sexual slavery was judged as the national eradication policy by Japanese imperialism. I still remember the process and thrilling moments of successfully completing the joint prosecution between the two Koreas.

Hirohito was the chief commander and decision-maker of the Japanese army, responsible for ordering his men to comply with international law and stop sexual violence. He was convicted of atrocities that were committed under imperialism and colonial rule. And the Japanese government was recommended to compensate the victims for violating the Hague Conventions in 1907, International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children in 1921, and the Forced Labour Convention in 1930. At this time, victims of 10 regions from Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Netherlands and East Timor hugged and cried. I'll never forget that scene 20 years ago.

Q6. So what do you think the greatest meaning of The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal is?

The greatest significance is the establishment of the basic principles that are the basis of conviction. We wanted to make legal judgments based on historical records and based on laws at the time of the crime. The ruling by The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal is already being used as a case. This is not just a formal court, and the result is not fiction.

And in the 1990s, the women's movement adhered to the principle of organizing women as the main axis and running women-led. But as we prepared The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal, a lot of male experts who were active in various fields participated. We organized a legal committee to recruit international law scholars and legal experts such as Kim Chang-rok, Park Won-soon, Jang Wan-ik, and Cho Si-hyun. We organized a fact-finding research committee and received help from historians such as Kang Man-gil and Lee Man-yeol. It is also a great achievement to spread the domestic movement centered on young people including college students.

Q7. Have you ever experienced the achievements of The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal while working at the United Nations? What are the challenges we still need to solve?

I didn't actually feel the impact. However, Guatemalan and Malaysian activists who participated in this Tribunal held a civil court on wartime sexual violence in their country. And the resolution of the Japanese military ‘comfort women’ we have been working on passed the US House of Representatives in 2007. In 2011, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan led to a ruling that the Korean government violated the Constitution through the Constitutional Appeal filed in the Constitutional Court of Korea. It is a achievement that civil society has been revitalized by driving the change of attitude of the government, changing relations between countries, and raising social interest. In that sense, I think the current process of succeeding the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal to achieve postcolonialism is also a credit to this tribunal.

Q8. Please tell us how to practice the problem-solving method of The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal and what the future of the Japanese sexual slavery movement should be.

The current study on the Japanese military 'comfort women' is too subdivided. The results of each area of ​​sociology, law, history, anthropology, women's studies, political diplomacy, and recordology are very good. But these results need to be connected so that we can look at the subject and object from a big perspective. The scope and emphasis of the study differs depending on the study. This is why research should be systematized, open, and refluxed. It's also a task left to researchers. It is also necessary to continue to unearth historical materials such as documents, images, and collections scattered around, organize and integrate them by period, theme, and person. We have to figure out exactly who, what, how, where we have it. Then, researchers from various fields interested in this issue will be able to search the data easily and look closely. As a result, the historical truth of the Japanese sexual slavery system and related research will develop.

It is more important that this problem should not be narrowed down to Korea-Japan relations, but rather we have to overcome that part. We must also reflect on the Asian context of this problem while pursuing the universal values ​​of 'women's rights' and 'peace'. This is the path of ‘decolonization’. Now, the government and civil society should gather wisdom to lead the decolonization, women's rights, and peace in Asia. Based on research and movement of the Japanese sexual slavery system that has been going on for the past 30 years, it is time to start leading activities to investigate and study violence against women under armed conflict that is still taking place throughout Asia. Most hopeful of all is that the social atmosphere that has avoided the discussion of this issue is changing. I hope to be a leading country in Asia, a society that faces and overcomes painful history and pursues universal values ​​of women's rights and peace. This is the future of the Japanese military sexual slavery movement.