Comfort Women

In the last decade of the 20th century, the world began to learn the tragic stories of some of the forgotten
victims of World War II—the "comfort women." Those were women who were forced into sexual servitude
by the Japanese Imperial Army during the war. Although Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino,
Indonesian, and Dutch women worked as comfort women, the majority, at least 80%, were Korean.

"Voluntary Corps"

During World War II, over 200,000 girls and women, ages 14 to 30, were conscripted from Japan's prewar
colonies and occupied territories. They were sent to the front for the duration of the war, housed in
brothels, and forced by the Japanese military into institutionalized sexual slavery on a massive scale. The
women were originally called "voluntary corps." Later, the Japanese government coined the term "military
comfort women." Historical documents found both in Washington, D.C. and Japan indicate that the
procurement of comfort women was institutionalized to prevent soldiers from raping local women, which
would have encouraged local opposition; to protect soldiers from the spread of venereal disease; and to
safeguard military secrets.

At the beginning of World War II, the Japanese Army brought Japanese prostitutes to the front for the
soldiers. (The institution of prostitution was not prohibited legally by Japan until 1957.) However, many of
the women were already infected with venereal diseases and infected the soldiers, which rendered them
unfit for combat. Therefore, Japanese brokers recruited Korean village girls by offering money to their
impoverished families.

Toward the end of the war, the supply of women was enlarged by more indiscriminate kidnapping of
women, including married women. The Military Compulsory Draft Act (1943) allowed the Japanese
Imperial Army to take more women, and as many as 70,000 to 80,000 were sent as comfort women to
work in "comfort stations" on the front lines in Asia. When the war was over, many of the comfort women
were deserted by the Japanese Army, while others were massacred. Some women committed suicide
because they were unable to overcome the shame, and others lived in silence.

A Demand for Justice

On December 6, 1991, three Korean comfort women filed suit demanding justice for the crimes against
humanity committed against them. They demanded an official apology, compensatory payment, a
thorough investigation of their cases, the revision of Japanese school textbooks identifying that issue as
part of the colonial oppression of the Korean people, and the building of a memorial museum.

Eighteen former comfort women from the Philippines filed a class action suit in April 1992. Subsequently,
four more groups did the same. In December 1992, a public hearing was held in Tokyo at which former
comfort women from six countries testified. One of the plaintiffs explained that her decision to finally
disclose what had happened to her was prompted by the fact that since all her close family members had
died, there was no one left who would be shamed because of her past.
 On April 26, 2000, the Yamaguchi district court in southwestern Japan ruled that "the Japanese
government which inherited Imperial Japan has the duty to make restitution for damage done in the war,
in particular for the pain and suffering of the comfort women. Its failure to do this has resulted in increased
pain suffered by victims. The comfort women system was sexual and racial discrimination, violating
fundamental rights of women." The court ordered the Japanese government to pay 360,000 yen ($3,540)
to each of the South Korean comfort women but said they could not direct government policy regarding
the apology.

As Yet, No Official Apology

For 47 years, the Japanese government denied any role in the comfort women scheme. However, in
January 1992, documents from Japan's defense agency's archives surfaced that directly linked the
Japanese military with the brothels. In August 1993, the Japanese government admitted that Japanese
military authorities were in constant control of women who were forced to provide sex for soldiers before
and during World War II.

Since then, Japanese prime ministers have made personal apologies to the women, but they have not
issued an official apology or set up an official compensation plan. They maintain that the violations
against the rights of the comfort women were not in violation of the Japanese legal system existing at the
time they were committed and that all claims for compensation for citizens of various countries have
already been settled by virtue of the various treaties of peace with Japan negotiated after the war.

MLA

Select Citation Style:

MLA
"Comfort Women."World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011.Web. 1 Feb. 2011.
Chicago
World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "Comfort Women," accessed February 1, 2011. http://worldhistory.abc-
clio.com/.
APA
Comfort Women. (2011). In World History: The Modern Era. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from
http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/

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