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Asia News Weekly: Prof Park Yuha paints a very different narrative of comfort women than Korean version

33 Comments

You have undoubtedly heard of the comfort women: young girls who were used as sex slaves by Japan. This issue continues to divide and sour relations between South Korea and Tokyo. Even after more than 10 rounds of discussions on how to resolve the long-standing issue, things remain the same.

Seoul says that some 200,000 women were forcibly taken from their homes, most of whom were Korean, but Tokyo historical revisionist say that the women were nothing more than prostitutes.

Professor Park Yu-ha is an academic from Sejong University and has written about the controversy. Her book, “Comfort Women of the Empire,” tells of a more nuanced version of history neither South Korea, nor Japan perpetuates.

That fact has landed her in some hot water in South Korea. Park faces charges of alleged defamation against surviving members of the comfort women.

On December 19th, she spoke with journalists at an informal “Tea Talk” in Seoul and sharing some of her research. This week’s Asian Now podcast is a recording of that event. Please note, professor Park speaks in Korean and English translation is provided by Seun Ji.

After listening to professor Park speak, let me know your opinion of her remarks. Contact us via Facebook, Twitter, or by messaging podcast@asianewsweekly.net.

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33 Comments
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Though really interested I found it terrible to listen to with all those background noises seeping in. Does anybody have a written form of the interview yet?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It would be great to get a synopsis of the most salient points.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

INTERVIEW/ Park Yu-ha: Untangling the emotional friction over 'comfort women'....March 2015...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201503110043

Professor Park has certainly ruffled some feathers....

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I agree with RonriiUrufu - show me the script - I don't want to listen to what's his name talk talk talk - so slowly. I am interested in the news itself.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

My views on the subject of women prostitutes under the Japanese have been largely influenced by viewing the 1997 movie, "Paradise Road." The movie tells the story of English, American, Dutch and Australian women captured by Japanese and held in Sumatra. It is based largely on the memoir of Betty Jeffrey, as written in her 1954 book, "White Coolies."

One memorable part of "Paradise Road" deals with the subject of Western women who became prostitutes for the Japanese army. They are told that they have the right to refuse to serve as prostitutes. The problem is that they were starving and without medical care, and the only way to get food and medicine was to become prostitutes. Whether or not one chooses to characterize the choice as between prostitution and starvation, the situation facing these women was not a pleasant one.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Think about how much choice a 15, 16 year old girl who is starving has when she is shipped across the globe and placed in a camp with military men. Just bc there are stories of kindness or girls capitulating to their situations doesn't really change the narrative all that much.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Asahi article linked above makes her view sound very rounded, blaming both sides almost equally. But the book summary also linked above (thanks to itsonlyrocknroll and albaleo for those) is much stronger in its denial of the role of the Japanese military. It seems very much at odds with what other serious scholars (Prof Park certainly seems a serious scholar) have concluded. So what are we to think? Why can't all the serious experts get together and thrash out what actually happened, without political bias? That would make it much easier to resolve the present-day issues, in my opinion.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I totally agree with Tokyo's opinion. War brings many ways to feed a family, and woman have the ups on that.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

I see now why Seoul doesn't want her book to be published. It's basically what we nay sayers had been saying all along.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

theeastisredDEC. 22, 2015 - 11:40AM JST

Why can't all the serious experts get together and thrash out what actually happened, without political bias?

Here is a statement made by more than 100 serious scholars from West.

https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/contributed-files/japan-scholars-statement-2015.5.4-eng_0.pdf

Historians disagree over the precise number of “comfort women,” which will probably never be known for certain. Establishing sound estimates of victims is important. But ultimately, whether the numbers are judged to have been in the tens of thousands or the hundreds of thousands will not alter the fact of the exploitation carried out throughout the Japanese empire and its war zones.

Some historians also dispute how directly the Japanese military was involved, and whether women were coerced to become “comfort women.” Yet the evidence makes clear that large numbers of women were held against their will and subjected to horrific brutality.

By whom were they "held against their will"? By Koreans, as Pak Yuha asserts or by Japanese?

All those more than 100 Western scholars cannot agree on almost anything.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Own up to it or keep quiet. It is no secret the Japanese committed monstrous crimes in wartime.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Own up to it or keep quiet. It is no secret the Japanese committed monstrous crimes in wartime.

So they either have to admit it, or say nothing when others accuse them of something they didn't do? I could see how well advice like that would go over for a defendant in a court of law. Yes, the IJA committed some horrific crimes. But why does that fact automatically make them guilty of kidnapping when all the supposed "evidence" was subsequently proved to be rife with fictional details?

The facts as far as I can determine show that the majority of Korean comfort women recruited by the Japanese military were recruited from Korean brothels and sent to China. The Japanese military got involved because independent brokers (i.e. "pimps") were starting to get involved and there were rumors of kidnappings by the pimps.

You have to remember Korea was a colony of Japan at the time and considered PART of Japan. Kidnapping and forcing Koreans into prostitution back then would be equivalent to doing the same in Hokkaido now. You're affecting your own people in a negative manner. Even the IJA was aware of the PR headache the kidnapping rumors would cause and moved to lock the pimps out of the procurement process. Why go to all that trouble if you intended to do the exact same thing?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

One Korean scholar agrees with some of the claims advanced by IJ defenders, challenging the prevailing view held by a majority of historians and researchers both Korean and non-Korean, and even some Japanese ones, and it's like "See? See? We told you so, it's lies, all lies. Only the Koreans were to blame all along." Right.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It not only her but other Korean scholars that were forced to be gagged by either a court order like her and or ostracized by a backward society.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

If you called the ladies of the night in NYC comfort women, they would pay you.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

I must admit, some of the evidence and reported motives in the links make me more sceptical than I was before. Thanks.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

She interviewed no comfortwomen for my book, says prof. parkyuha ... on her "comfort women of the empire" book. How do you not interview primary sources?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Some people doesn't care to read or listen to anything before they post.

The youtube provides a full 30 minutes in recorded INTERVIEW with a former comfort women that is held under close observation by the Chong Dae Hyup so they do not disclose damaging information against their view.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Who cares. This issue is rehashed by both sides to the point of being nauseating.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

By whom were they "held against their will"? By Koreans, as Pak Yuha asserts or by Japanese?

Doesn't matter. Regardless of the number of middle men, the end client is clear.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

gkamburoffDec. 23, 2015 - 12:26AM JST Own up to it or keep quiet. It is no secret the Japanese committed monstrous crimes in wartime.

And they've all been charged prosecuted and tried at the International Tribunal for the Far East right after WWII, There's nothing more to be whining about. http://www.archives.gov/iwg/reports/final-report-2007.pdf Read it and weep.

The Comfort Women issue is a hoax on the world, and the truth is about to come out. http://www.eagerexec.com/comfort-women/

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The arrow buttons on your keyboard will fast forward or rewind the video 5 or ten seconds so no need to sit through what you don't want to hear. Anyway, very interesting.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Doesn't matter. Regardless of the number of middle men, the end client is clear.

Prostitution was legal those days. What about the end client?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Maybe this type of scholaship is the reason that we suddenly have an agreement between Japan and S Korea about the sex slave isssue. Neither wants to provide a motivation for people to conduct more nuanced research about the issue.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Prostitution was legal those days. What about the end client?

This story is not about prostitution.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

This story is not about prostitution.

It is. It is about comfort women of the empire and comfort stations= Legal business.

Side Note: after 1947, Prostitution got illegal. Hence S.K Government, middle men, house owners, the end clients all guilty.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The Supreme Court in South Korea has, again, denied the right of some surviving comfort women from seeking damages against the Govt. of Japan citing the fact that the Treaty between Korea and Japan that normalized relations included the payment of reparations for all compensation claims. So that should say something about the "legal" basis of these claims today.

Human (white slavery) trafficking is the most probable vehicle and viable explanation of what enabled the prostitution that is involved with those comfort stations. We still have that kind of trafficking today. It persists everywhere. And those modern day women enslaved.

It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination that there had to have been cooperation between those traffickers in Korea and those who provided the logistical support to the Imperial military to engage in this type of "trade" in women. Control them and coerce them.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Forced prostitution / sexual slavery is any type where there is coercion. Starving and with no medical care is the same as being hooked on drugs or having your passport taken away after being promised a "job" somewhere. The IJA was acting as the pimp. There's no changing that and, human nature being what it is, Hoko is correct that it's still going on today.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

If you listen to the vid you'll find that the females were generally treated fairly with IJA doctors giving medical check up. If they weren't fed properly it was the KOREAN OWNED Brothel owner's fault.

Really People need to take in( watch/listen) to what the article and provided links before posting.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@ Fadamore The facts as far as I can determine show that the majority of Korean comfort women recruited by the Japanese military were recruited from Korean brothels and sent to China. The Japanese military got involved because independent brokers (i.e. "pimps") were starting to get involved and there were rumors of kidnappings by the pimps.

What makes you the final arbiter of the veracity or lack of in this issue?

"You have to remember Korea was a colony of Japan at the time and considered PART of Japan. Kidnapping and forcing Koreans into prostitution back then would be equivalent to doing the same in Hokkaido now. You're affecting your own people in a negative manner. Even the IJA was aware of the PR headache the kidnapping rumors would cause and moved to lock the pimps out of the procurement process. Why go to all that trouble if you intended to do the exact same thing?"

Exactly !! Isn't the question of power obvious here? that the colonizer has power of life and death over the colonized ? It's also true that the Japanese regarded all other Asiatics as sub-human. Koreans could not marry Japanese lest they corrupted the Japanese blood with their inferior quality( Google Eugenics in Japan). For the Japanese to have committed such atrocities, they must have been thinking of Koreans and Chinese - to use one IJA officer interviewed on NHK- less than pigs, for a pig you could kill and eat. The Japanese must have thought of the Koreans, like many colonialists the world over did, simply as their property, to do whatever they wanted with. They were the gods on THAT piece of earth, where or who were they to ask permission from?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Good for brave women like her, who aren't blinded by the anti Japanese nationalists and their rabid fan base.

Someone that actually takes the time to research the facts and the little details in between, instead of demagoguery on either side of the issue.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

the japanese government, korean government and professor are probably all correct.. the problem is that each side chooses to promote the stories that are most beneficial to and promote their goals / positions.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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