This article may contain content upsetting some readers. Topics include Sexual Ab*se, mental trauma, r*pe, and w*r.
What Are Comfort Women?
During World War II (1932-1945), the Japanese kidnapped young girls (from ages 12-15), from Southeast Asia to become their personal sex slaves. They were named comfort women, translated from the Japanese word, ianfu, meaning prostitutes. These girls would be forced to sexually please the Japanese soldiers for 13 years. No mercy was served to these women, as an approximate of 90% of them did not make it out alive, and the lucky few who did became infertile. Although this time period happened during WWII, the public only heard news of it in 1991, when a former comfort woman decided to speak about her experience.
The Nanking Massacre
One of the most historically significant events in relation to the comfort women was on December 13th, 1937; The Rape of Nanking. On this day, the Japanese held a 6 week long massacre in Nanking (now called Nanjing), one of China’s largest cities. During this time, the Japanese raped 50,000-400,000 women from that city alone. An apology was made by former president Hatoyama Yukio on November 13, 2013, saying; “As a Japanese citizen, I feel that it's my duty to apologise for even just one Chinese civilian killed brutally by Japanese soldiers and that such action cannot be excused by saying that it occurred during war." Although he had apologised for Japan’s appalling act, it was only one of the many apologies they had made.
This link includes a list of Japan’s apologies in response to their mistakes during WWII, and more.
The apology
On March 27th, 2007, the Japanese government released an official apology to the comfort women after great demand from the world’s longest running protest, Wednesday Demonstrations (a 29 year running
protest held by Korean women demanding justice for the Comfort women every Wednesday). However, the apology was not accepted by the survivors and fellow protestors, saying how their apology barely scraped the surface of the emotional scar the Japanese had left on South Koreans.
Lee Ok Seon
One of the last few survivors, Lee Ok Seon only recently opened up about her story, 70 years later, when travelling to Germany. Her story explains her traumatic experience during WWII, and the mental damage it had left her. She was only 14 when she was abducted, and taken in a car to a brothel, also known as a “comfort station.”. From there, she was raped every day, until the war ended. But even after the war, all the women were left homeless. They had no money to travel back home, nor did they have any connections there. Fortunately for her, she was welcomed back home. It was reported that those who had returned home were seen as embarrassments, and were looked down on. Lee Ok Seon returned home 55 years after the war ended, in 2000During those years, she met a man of Korean descent while living in China. She later married this man, and nurtured his children, as she thought that was the least she could do, not being able to have any children herself after being transmitted syphilis from the Brothel.
A short graphic novel, Grass, done by Ok Seon herself, explains her story of returning back home, where she was reported dead. Now, Lee Ok Seon spends her days protesting in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, along with many others. After the death of her husband, she has chosen to continue to share her story, spreading more awareness for others.
Writer’s note
After researching comfort women, and the immense torture they were forced to go through, this shows how we should not be blinded by countries and their culture, but rather research more on their history. Japan has erased all evidence of comfort women in their textbooks, which needs to be changed. They must be held accountable for their history, instead of destroying evidence it never exited. Vandalising public statues of the Japanese bowing down to a comfort women as a symbol of apology will not cover their historical mistakes. Apologise to the comfort women. Do not turn a blind to this.
Written by Mi Cao
Sources:
Lee Ok Seon
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