Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2017 18:49:37 GMT
The myth "Korean comfort women were coerced by the Japanese military"
The Korean woman who first claimed this in the early 1990s belonged to Chongsindae during the war. Chongsindae (also called Teishintai in Japanese) was a group of women conscripted by the Japanese military. They worked in factories to manufacture military equipment and uniforms. Since she was conscripted, she thought comfort women were also conscripted. It wasn't that she fabricated the story. It was an innocent mistake on her part. None of the initial testimonies of former Korean comfort women claimed they were coerced by the Japanese military. The majority of the Korean women were sold by their fathers to Korean comfort station owners. Some Korean women were deceived by Korean comfort station owners' agents. Other Korean women were in the world's oldest profession, and they did volunteer to earn good money.
The myth "There were 200,000 comfort women"
Two hundred thousand was the number of factory workers conscripted. About 150,000 of them were Japanese and 50,000 were Korean. Common misunderstanding in the West "There were 200,000 comfort women" arose because Asahi Shimbun mistook factory workers for comfort women in its August 11th, 1991 article, which inflated the number. The estimates of comfort women numbers vary from 5,000 to 50,000 depending on the historians.
The Japanese soldiers and Korean comfort women
Korean comfort women typically made about 750 yen a month plus tips. (A house in Korea cost 1000 yen at the time) Some also sang at parties to earn generous tips. Women attended sports events, picnics and social dinners with both officers and men. They were also allowed to go shopping in towns. Romances between Korean comfort women and Japanese soldiers were common, and there were numerous instances of proposals of marriage and in certain cases marriages actually took place.
Korean comfort station owners
The Japanese military sent orders to comfort station operators not to recruit unwilling women. The Japanese comfort station operators followed the order and only recruited willing women in Japan, but the Korean operators didn't follow the order and recruited both willing prostitutes and unwilling women in Korea. If the Korean operators had followed the order, there wouldn't have been any comfort women issue.
Many of Korean comfort women's fathers had debts from alcohol, gambling, etc. and sold their daughters without daughters' consent. The Korean comfort station owners took over their debts, and depending on the amount of the debt, each woman's contract length was determined. Korean women were not allowed to leave until their debts were paid off. Any coercion, violence or confinement was exercised by the Korean owners. So if one wants to use the term "sex slaves" to describe former Korean comfort women, they were the sex slaves of Korean comfort station owners. They were not the sex slaves of the Japanese military. The Japanese military's involvement was limited to conducting sexually transmitted disease checkups and providing transportation to comfort station owners and comfort women. (Note: The Japanese government recognized its military's involvement, not coercion, in the recent agreement. goo.gl/pq5l2s)
Four 'Comfort Girls' captured in the hills of Luzon, play mahjong during recess period in woman's detention home on outskirts of Manila.
The Korean woman who first claimed this in the early 1990s belonged to Chongsindae during the war. Chongsindae (also called Teishintai in Japanese) was a group of women conscripted by the Japanese military. They worked in factories to manufacture military equipment and uniforms. Since she was conscripted, she thought comfort women were also conscripted. It wasn't that she fabricated the story. It was an innocent mistake on her part. None of the initial testimonies of former Korean comfort women claimed they were coerced by the Japanese military. The majority of the Korean women were sold by their fathers to Korean comfort station owners. Some Korean women were deceived by Korean comfort station owners' agents. Other Korean women were in the world's oldest profession, and they did volunteer to earn good money.
The myth "There were 200,000 comfort women"
Two hundred thousand was the number of factory workers conscripted. About 150,000 of them were Japanese and 50,000 were Korean. Common misunderstanding in the West "There were 200,000 comfort women" arose because Asahi Shimbun mistook factory workers for comfort women in its August 11th, 1991 article, which inflated the number. The estimates of comfort women numbers vary from 5,000 to 50,000 depending on the historians.
The Japanese soldiers and Korean comfort women
Korean comfort women typically made about 750 yen a month plus tips. (A house in Korea cost 1000 yen at the time) Some also sang at parties to earn generous tips. Women attended sports events, picnics and social dinners with both officers and men. They were also allowed to go shopping in towns. Romances between Korean comfort women and Japanese soldiers were common, and there were numerous instances of proposals of marriage and in certain cases marriages actually took place.
Korean comfort station owners
The Japanese military sent orders to comfort station operators not to recruit unwilling women. The Japanese comfort station operators followed the order and only recruited willing women in Japan, but the Korean operators didn't follow the order and recruited both willing prostitutes and unwilling women in Korea. If the Korean operators had followed the order, there wouldn't have been any comfort women issue.
Many of Korean comfort women's fathers had debts from alcohol, gambling, etc. and sold their daughters without daughters' consent. The Korean comfort station owners took over their debts, and depending on the amount of the debt, each woman's contract length was determined. Korean women were not allowed to leave until their debts were paid off. Any coercion, violence or confinement was exercised by the Korean owners. So if one wants to use the term "sex slaves" to describe former Korean comfort women, they were the sex slaves of Korean comfort station owners. They were not the sex slaves of the Japanese military. The Japanese military's involvement was limited to conducting sexually transmitted disease checkups and providing transportation to comfort station owners and comfort women. (Note: The Japanese government recognized its military's involvement, not coercion, in the recent agreement. goo.gl/pq5l2s)
Four 'Comfort Girls' captured in the hills of Luzon, play mahjong during recess period in woman's detention home on outskirts of Manila.