Sex Slaves of
World War II
2009-02-R15
(Copyrighted 2009
by Don M. Tow)
One of the most horrific crimes of the World War II period[1] has remained relatively unknown to most Americans, as well as to most people in many other parts of the world, even though more than 63 years have elapsed since the end of World War II. This is the crime of sex slaves, or euphemistically called “comfort women” by the Japanese government. During the WWII period, approximately 400,000 women and young girls (most between the ages of 14 and 18) from China, Korea, Philippines, Netherlands, and other countries (with about 50% being Chinese) were forced to become sex slaves to the Japanese soldiers occupying Korea, China, Burma, Philippines, and other parts of Asia.[2]
Most of these women and girls were kidnapped
from their families and shipped to all over the Japanese empire to become
sex slaves, and many died or were never united with their families again.
Sometimes, these women and girls were tricked
to become sex slaves when they thought they were being recruited for other
jobs.
As sex slaves, they were raped on a daily basis by as
many as a dozen or more Japanese soldiers, while being poorly fed and living
in extremely harsh conditions.
In addition, sometimes they also had to perform
other menial tasks during other parts of the day, all without compensation.
How terrifying were their experiences can be seen
from the following remarks by Kim Koon-ja of Korea when she recalled her
days as a Japanese sex slave and said that her ordeal was “so painful I
tried to kill myself.
I choked myself, but got caught and was so
badly beaten that it was worse than death itself.
There wasn’t a day that passed without tears.
My last wish is for the Japanese people to
apologize and make compensations.”[3]
Unfortunately to this day, the Japanese government
still has not formally and officially acknowledged these atrocities and has
not apologized to the victims.
On the contrary, on many occasions various
top-level Japanese leaders (including their prime minister), have tried to
discredit the claims of the victims and eyewitnesses by making remarks such
as that sex slaves were invented by people who want to criticize Japan or
that these women were willingly hired by private contractors as prostitutes
and were paid handsomely for their services.
This is in spite of the fact that
documents have
been discovered within Japan’s Defense Agency (now called the Ministry of
Defense) proving that state officials were directly involved in setting up
sex slaves.
The Japanese government
has tried to rewrite history related to sex slaves, as well as other
atrocities, such as the Nanking Massacre, committed by the Japanese army
during WWII
(See
http://www.dontow.com/Archived_PS_Articles/APS4-Nanking_Massacre.html
for an eyewitness account of the Nanking Massacre.).
Most Japanese youths today don’t know anything
about sex slaves, the Nanking Massacre, or other atrocities committed by
their country during WWII because the history textbooks they used in their
schools have been revised with respect to that part of history.
The Japanese government’s actions (or
inactions) are in sharp contrast to those of the German government who has
officially apologized and provided reparation for those who were persecuted
by the German government during WWII.
Because of the social stigma in Asian countries
associated with sex slaves, even though they were forced to do so and were
not even compensated, these former sex slaves for many years basically kept
their experiences to themselves.
As a matter of fact, they were often looked
down upon even by their own families, thus compounding their sufferings.
However, with the passage of time, rising
feminism and gender equality, and changing social attitudes, some of these
women began to speak out and even participated in public demonstrations.
These demonstrations began in
It is important to point out that there are brave
and courageous Japanese people who have stood up and criticized their
government for their handling of issues related to the atrocities committed
by the Japanese government during WWII.
Japanese organizations have been set up whose
purpose is to right the injustices perpetuated by the Japanese government
during and after WWII.
One such organization is the “Women’s Active
Museum on War and Peace” (WAM) established in 2005 to be the repository of
records and materials related to the so-called “comfort women” issue that
were collected by the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s
Military Sexual Slavery that was held in 2000.
Another
such organization is the “Center for Research and Documentation on
It is heartening to see that a little more than a year ago the governments
of several countries have passed resolutions condemning
the actions of the Japanese military associated with sex slaves and called
on the Japanese government to officially acknowledge, apologize, and accept
historical responsibility for these actions.
These governments include the
In spite of such political pressures being applied to
Additional information on the sex slaves issue of
WWII can also be found in the CBS video “Open Wounds,” CBS Sunday Morning
News, 3/18/07:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YMUjvtt7Gg.
On Monday, 4/27/09, 7:30-9:30 PM at the Student
Life Center, there will be a program at Brookdale Community College (BCC) in
Lincroft, NJ on “Violence Against Women:
Sex Slaves in Asia during WWII.”
The program is sponsored by BCC’s “Holocaust,
Genocide and Human Rights Education Center,” BCC’s “Center for WWII Studies
& Conflict Resolution,” and the “New Jersey Alliance for Learning &
Preserving the History of WWII in Asia.”
The speakers will be Rosemarie Wilkinson, Adjunct
Professor at
Admission is free to
BCC students and staff and members of the three sponsoring organizations, $5
for other students, and $10 for others.
[1]
In this article, the WWII period refers to the extended period of
1931-1945, the years bracketing the Japanese invasion of
[2] These are the most recent estimates based on more than 15 years of investigation by the world’s foremost expert on the comfort women issue, Professor Zhi Liang Su (and his team), who is the Director of the Comfort Women Research Institute at the Shanghai Normal University in Shanghai, China. Earlier corresponding numbers from the United Nations were 200,000 comfort women, with the majority being Koreans. Professor Su is currently working on having the more recent estimates to be adopted by the U.N.
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