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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014.S Korea, China protest Japan's 'comfort women' apology review
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OssanAmerica
Abe already said that regardless of the results of the review the Kono Statement would remain. So what exactly are these two countries complaining about? They harp on Japan's need to apologize as if the 1993 Kono Statement wasn't an apology. Then they complained that Abe was considering revising it which is an admission that it was an apology. Now they are simply afraid that any kind of review or investigation may disclose aspects to the issue that they hae kept hidden, such as the recent news that South Korea not only was aware of the 1993 Kono Statement but actually had input in it's wording. This makes South Korea's claim that the 1993 statement wasn't an apology look pretty silly.
ANewAsia
Japan had apologised before. Korea was however intent on extracting greater economic concessions and cornering Japan for political benefit. Their efforts have now paid off and Korea has yet again embarrassed itself.
toshiko
If Japan revise Kono apology, no matter which way, Japan will be criticized. Japan should ignore Korea and China. I don.t like Japan militarizing but maybe Abe and right wing who want to amend Article 9 qre right? Right bow, 70 % of Japanese vpters oppose amendment but maybe China and Korea are instigating Japanese to agree with right wings?.
semperfi
Can we all just give this whole thing a rest, already !!!!!
Sidekick
Japan may apologize thousand or million times but they will demand more and more and more. Because it's their nature. SK and China consider Japan a some sort of scape goat with great complex of inferiority. By comparison, demand the USA or Russia to apologize for something. Just try and they will laugh right in your face. Be strong, proud and have a bit of self-respect.
nath
Of course they did.
flowers
China and Korea have very good reasons to complain. The panel report made by Japanese government-chosen experts said that Japan "worked closely with South Korea" behind the scenes on the wording of the statement, indicating that the statement is an outcome of political bargaining or concession. Casting doubts and distorting the truth are the tactics being used. J gov’t should be ashamed of what they are doing. On one hand Abe said he would not revise the Kono Statement but on the other hand he made it as though the Statement is worthless because of Korea’s influence on the wording. Wow, this is the best truth manipulation of all times.
nath
For anyone who thinks that Japan has apologized enough, they obviously are lacking the required intelligence to realize that apologies mean nothing when you undermine them repeatedly after making them.
Dennis711
Dead horse... wip.. wip. We need to get past these things that no longer effect living people. Every country does bad things in war time. Show me one country that has not.
John Master
@Dennis711
That is true. However, not all countries deny their war atrocities, or downplay their roles in them. It also doesn't help Japan's stance when their high ranking political/media officials deny war crimes.
JoeBigs
S Korea, China protest Japan
These two countries need to find a new hobby, hey how about taking care of their own nation's problems?
Let's see, Communist China
Why not address the concerns of those displaced because of corrupt land grabs? Or maybe addressing the complains and outrage against the Chengguan? Or maybe address the endless amounts of violations committed by corrupt officials? Hey, how about addressing the abuses against the Tibet and Uyghur people's, they are mad for a good reason. Or maybe......
This list is so long no wonder why Communist China wants to direct the people's anger elsewhere. I smell a revolution in the works.
Now, how about South Korea?
Well, how addressing the National Security Law which curtails freedom of expression, speech and association? Or maybe address the crimes against humanity that their troops committed during the Korea war and Vietnam? Or how about addressing the concerns of the people about the planned Reunification Carrot Trap? Or how about really addressing as to why the MV Sewol was allowed to be refitted and no one cared how? Why did the ROK and the KRS give the Sewol a green light after the refit and now are arresting the owners over it, cover-up comes to mind.
These two have a lot to of problems in their own nations, but instead of addressing their own issues they try and shift their people's anger by pointing somewhere else. But, let us not forget, this isn't just about keeping their people angry at someone else. This has as much to do with gaining concessions from Japan.
South Korea wants Japan to forget about the 1965 Treaty and pay more money. The ROK doesn't want to live up to their end of the treaty and reneged on it the very minute after they got the money from Japan. What better way of achieving this goal than by pressuring Japan internationally.
Communist China's goals are a little more intricate. First off they want Japan to depart from their alliance with the US of A. Next, they want Japan to stop helping their neighbors with money and arms. They want Japan to have no ability to defend itself against it's aggressions, so when they do take Japan's territories Japan will just have to sit there and smile. They only way they can achieve this is by continuing to wage their childish propaganda war.
In other words ladies and gentlemen, there is much more to these complaints than meets the eye.
Propaganda 101, say something enough times and folks will begin to believe it.
You can either sit by, nod your heads and smile or do your own bit of research and find the facts.
nath
Communist China doesn't exist, as China is not a communist state, no matter how much the CCP would like you to believe otherwise.
LeChatBotte
South Korea's constant harping that Japan haven't apologized "enough" already shows motives beyond the establishment of historical facts
No one in their right mind would believe Communist China when it comes to historical legacy
fxgai
So either this is a lie by the experts, or the South Korean side is trying to whitewash this particular piece of history?
JoeBigs
Could you please provide us an unbiased link to these documents. I would love to see who provided them and which organization authenticated them.
Before I forget, by Unbiased I mean an organization that is neutral, so no Iris Chang, blogs, government sponsored or activist sponsored links please.
I await your treasure trove of proof.
ANewAsia
It doesnt matter what abe thinks. Everyone has established him to be part right wing loony, part american retainer. Abe does not command as much power as is commonly believed. He can go to that shrine as many times as he want, denies whatever he wants to entertain china and korea. The powerful bureaucracy, ldp doves and business lobby grey men will still stand by its apologies and pacifist stand.
Suin Kim
JoeBigsJun. 24, 2014 - 10:51AM JST
Thank you for your concern about Korean problems no matter whether it is from your heart or not. Yes, Korea has a lot of problems to solve and you should know Japan’s constant attempt to revise its history related to Korea is one of the problems Korea is facing. No matter what Japan tries to do with Kono Statement, it’s not Japan’s own business.
How about Japan? Aren’t there more important issues to address in Japan than reviewing Kono Statement?
Please concretely say what money Korean government wants if your intention is not to make Korea look bad.
ANewAsia
Brilliant. Zichi, perhaps you would like to tell everyone who set up the asian womens fund, and while you are at it, who financed the construction of the nanking massacre museum? Expecting no honest answers from you, the answer for both questions are socialists, japanese socialists. Whether comfort women were indeed forced into prostitution is a moot point. Japan had apologised. The abe faction would not have had the opportunity to undermine the apology had it not been on the insistence and repeated provocations of korea. Now good, abe has cunningly furthered his own standing in the right wing and gave korea a tight slap on the face in an ingenious sleight of hand. Not that korea didnt deserve it, though. China has been a busybody in this. The kono statement has always been about comfort women in korea and not elsewhere.
BARENZAME619
No Japanese I ever knew ( including PM Abe and Prof. Hata) denied the existence of comfort women. We admitted. Therefore Japan has apologized many times and paid a lot of compensation.
What Japanese deny today is all the exaggeration and false information which are fabricated by Korean and Chinese for their propaganda.
We admitted what we actually have done, HOWEVER we have to deny what we actually have not done. This is what Japan is trying to do now. Don't misunderstand.
Suin Kim
BARENZAME619Jun. 24, 2014 - 05:23PM JST
As far as I know, the review was to find out the exaggeration and false information of Kono Statement you said. So, did the review team find out them? Definitely, “the two countries had worked together on the sensitive wording of the apology” has no relevance to the exaggeration and false information.
One more thing. Mr. Abe said he would not revise it. He sounds like he found nothing to alter the content of Kono Statement. What do you think about it?
OssanAmerica
There are two flaws in your argument. First is that you are attempting to explain the lack of evidence by claiming that they existed but were destroyed, bypassing the simpler explanation that no such documents existed to start with. It is customary for militaries to destroy documentation that may be used against them in the face of defeat, occupation and their falling into enemy hands. But the bigger flaw in your argument is that any documentation pertaining to the Comfort Women System would not have been considered a military secret worth covering up. Military brothels existed all over the world during WWII by Axis and Allies alike as we all know. The defeated Japanese military would NOT have considered it to be an "Atrocity" as you so ridiculously label it. That kind of labelling along with emotional charged inaccurate terms like "Sex Slaves" did not exist until the mid1980s when the Comfort Women issue became a controversy. The US Army Report 46 from 1944 shows that despite being in he midst of war against the Japanese Empire and the motivation to find anything that could be used against them, the Comfort Women System was NOT considered an "Atrocity" by the US military.
JoeBigs
In other words, you can't provide proof to back-up your position. The 8,000 burnt document defense isn't that good of a defense. Think about it, back before PCs how much paper was used each and everyday?
Knowing how meticulous the Japanese are about keeping files and writing reports, 8,000 documents would have been one months work for any given region in their empire.
Imperial Japan Military burning 8,000 documents would be northing. They would have had to of burnt hundreds of thousands of documents to account for all the comfort women in all the different regions of their empire.
So again I ask you, where is your proof?
It is from the heart, I truly hope that all nations would take care of their problems without trying to hide them. Yes, even the good ole U.S of A.
The Kono statement was made by Japan and not by Korea, so it is a Japanese issue and one that they want to look into.
In 1965 the ROK accepted the terms of the treaty and were suppose to use a portion of the money they received to help the people affected by the Japanese occupation. The treaty clearly stated that Korea would compensate it's people and Japan would not have to.
What happened to that money?
If you look into it, you will answer your own question. Hint, 2007 release of secret documents by the ROK.
My pleasure...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/asia/south-korea-urges-japan-to-compensate-former-sex-slaves.html?_r=0
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201308100054
http://eng.the-liberty.com/2013/4827/
http://m.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?hl=S+Koreans+reluctant+to+shoulder+unification+cost+poll&sec=news&id=%7B39DC2FE8-94A0-4531-B554-E2ECCB4F616A%7D
http://www.dw.de/park-pushes-the-dream-of-korean-reunification/a-17384699
I can provide even more if you would like.
toshiko
Maybe Japan apology fully this time and see what else China and Korea comes up after Japan apology, "sincerely sorry, our ancestors destroyed your countries with the worst atrocity in the world history." But, they will find something else.
OssanAmerica
Yes I agree you have. Just as I, and many others have provided links proving that not all women were kidnapped. However that has nothing to do your claim that documents pertaining to the Comfort Women System were destroyed.
"It is customary for militaries to destroy documentation that may be used against them in the face of defeat, occupation and their falling into enemy hands. But the bigger flaw in your argument is that any documentation pertaining to the Comfort Women System would not have been considered a military secret worth covering up."
Yes it is my opinion but one which has a considerably higher probability of being fact than your suggestion that the Japanese military, at a time when military brothels were commonly used by both Allied and Axis powers, would consider their system to be an "atrocity" and rush to destroy evidence.
Estimated by whom? Please provide a supporting link.
"Military brothels existed all over the world during WWII by Axis and Allies alike as we all know.
No you are totally incorrect in that regard. We had military brothels in France after the allied landings,
You are charging "rape" by extension, not by act. That's ridiculous. The only case where both kidnapping and rape were proven and tried was in Indonesia, and that was addressed at the Tokyo Trials. And as you say, the top military leaders were tried at the Tokyo Trials, often on rather "forced" charges but even then there is no prosecution of any issues pertaining to the Comfort Women System beyond the one case. That's because it wasn't an atrocity.
"The US Army Report 46 from 1944 shows that despite being in he midst of war against the Japanese Empire and the motivation to find anything that could be used against them, the Comfort Women System was NOT considered an "Atrocity" by the US military."
Because of the limited time and resources, the most important issues for the U.S. Military after the end of the war was getting Justice for the tens of thousands of POW's who were tortured, forced into labor and executed by cruel means.
Limited time and resources of what? The allies were limited in neither compared to Imperial Japan.
NeoJamal
Simple, the West (the developed nations in particular) just needs to hate Japan as a morally bankrupt state and accept Korean and Chinese as superior races. Why is Nazi-friendly Tokyo impeding on what's naturally to come?
tokyodoumo
Japan will never become sincerely or permanently sorry unless we ourselves experience the same hell Korea and China endured. For all atrocities we (Japan) committed no amount of apologies are ever going to be enough as long as we are lacking sincere repentance and willingness to sincerely atone for our mistakes.
OssanAmerica
Zichi, I haven't provided any links because I haven't made any statements which required such substantiation. Just about everything I have stated is either common knowledge or can be found very easily by anyone who wants to disprove me. You have proven that a great many documents were destroyed by the Japanese military. No one doubts that, it is common practice to destroy documentation and evidence under such conditions. And documents pertaining to clearly illegal issues under the Geneva Convention, and those which some would call "atrocities" were undoubtedly destroyed. Although in the case of Unit 731 which you brought up, they weren't and the United States got them. What I have asked you is substantiation of your claim that documents specifically pertaining to the Comfort Women System were destroyed. I do not believe the Japanese military would have destroyed them because a military brothel system was neither an "atrocity" nor in contravention of the Geneva Convention. The existence of the Comfort Women System was well known to the allies and neither it's existence nor operation was a prosecutable offense at the War Crimes Trials. Only the incident in Indonesia where there was kidnapping and rape was it prosecuted with convictions.
.
toshiko
In the statement, Kono acknowledged that the Japanese Imperial Army had been involved, either directly or indirectly, in the establishment of comfort facilities. However it is still debated whether the statement had acknowledged that coercion had been used in the recruitment and retention of the women by the Japanese Imperial Army directly, as the recruitment was believed to be mainly conducted by private recruiting agents (both Korean and Japanese).His subsequent call for historical research and education aimed at remembering the issue became the basis for addressing the subject of forced prostitution in school history textbooks. The statement was welcomed in South Korea. It also led to the creation of the Asian Women's Fund, which provided aid and support to women who had been forced into prostitution during the war.
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there are too many pros and cons. There were comfort women, that is for sure.
BARENZAME619
Suin Kim,
Your understanding about the purpose of the review is a bit incorrect: What the reviewing team was trying to do was not exactly to find the exaggeration or false information as for comfort women issue itself. The review was conducted in order to find out "how the Kono Statement was" made. In other words, "to review the making process of the statement" and "to review whether the statement was made at Japan's sole discretion or with any other input/interference from SK".
For avoidance of doubt,
"Japanese" in my previous comment means the whole country of Japan (=Japanese ppl), not necessarily includes the Japanese government.
As you mentioned, PM Abe never said he will revise Kono Statement. But it does not mean that he did not find any false information. PM Abe thinks it is not his job to find the truth or to study the history: it it the job of historians/intellectuals. Otherwise, instead of revising it, he can publish a new statement, which I am not sure if happens. It also depends how President Pak will react after she comes back from the trip.
Suin Kim
JoeBigsJun. 24, 2014 - 10:36PM JST
The problems you mentioned can’t be hidden by Korean protest against Japan’s review of Kono statement. Korean government knows it and Koreans are wise enough to know thier government can hide them by protesting Japan. Japan’s attempts to revise history can hide Japanese problems?
.
Please cite the terms of the treaty backing up your comment if you can.
Article 2 of "Agreement on the Settlement of Problem Concerning Property and Claims and on the Economic Cooperation," states “ the problems concerning property rights, and interests of the both nations and their peopleand the claims between both nations and between their nationals , including those stipulated in Article IV(a) of the Peace Treaty with Japan which exist at the time of singing treaty have been completely and ultimately settled. Japan picks out only the words "completely and ultimately settled“, but the contents of this claim doesn’t include the issue of comfort women. The of issue of comfort women was not dealt during the fourteen years (1952-1965) of negotiations, not even once and Japan didn’t admit the existence of comfort women when comfort women became an issue in 1991. It doesn't make sense to say Japan completely compensated for the issue it didn’t even recognize.
There were 8 items of claims negotiated in the talks and comfort women issue was not included. The treaty covered was Koreans who had been conscripted as soldiers or laborers during the colonial period. Korean government paid for them and has never asked Japan for the further compensation for them. Most importantly, 1965 treaty didn’t deprive individual victims of their rights to seek compensation.
In 1992, JP government acknowledged that the iindividual victims still hold the right to seek damages. Shunji Yanai, then chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Treaties Bureau, told an Upper House Budget Committee session on Aug. 27 that " the Japan-South Korea Basic Treaty of 1965 had not deprived individual victims of their right to seek damages in domestic legal terms. Shunji Yanai said "(The treaty) only prevents Japanese and South Korean governments from taking up issues as exercise of their diplomatic rights,"
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:13100:0::NO::P13100_COMMENT_ID:2218404
Even though Japan insists comfort women issue was settled by the treaty, the individual right for seeking the compensation is still effective. Treaty of 1965 isn’t that simple as you can vaguely articulate.
Korean government disclosed all records of the proceedings of the treaty even though some were not in favor of Korean position, but Japan refused to disclose them completely. According to Asahi Shimbun, the Foreign Ministry stated reason was that disclosure of the documents in question would put Japan at a disadvantage in future negotiations with South Korea and North Korea.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201311200033
BARENZAME619Jun. 25, 2014 - 11:10AM JST
What I want to know is the review found all the exaggeration and false information which are fabricated by Korean and Chinese for their propaganda Japanese population deny today. if it is the view of Japanese population, your government must know it. Do you think the reivew team also research what the Japanese population deny?
The question is if there was any false information, why doesn’t Japan say there was? The Japanese population is anxious to know it if there was and Korean are, too. Such attitude is understandable? And why should Japan depends on President Pak in announcing the falso information, if any? What is Japan calculating in that case?
BARENZAME619
Suin, Kim,
I think the whole nation (including Japanese government) has already found many exaggeration and false information on Comfort Women. However, the purpose of the reviewing team at this time is not to make a research on such information. Their purpose for this moment is simply to review the making process of the Kono Statement. I do not know if the review team will do a research in the future.
FYI, I list some false information;
1- absolute lies-
This includes all kinds of lies such as; Japanese soldiers pushed comfort women from aircraft to death; Japanese soldiers forced comfort women to eat human flesh.
There are no proof on these claims. You can see some of those lies in comics/animations presented at the Comic Festival held in Angouleme, France, 2013.
2- information in dispute
This information include such as; Number of comfort women; How they become comfort women- kidnapped or sold by their parents or voluntarily applied for the job; who recruited them; How were their life at the camp like.
In order to be fair, I will call these "information in dispute", because SK will say that they have materials/document to support their belief and Japan will say the same.
As far as I know, some Japanese ppl and Japanese politicians have said repeatedly that there were false info/misunderstanding/exaggerations, etc. Until recently, however, most Japanese preferred to be quiet than finding the truth which may become a trouble with neighbor, although Kono Statement was dissatisfying to us. What triggered a change of Japanese public opinion is, IMO, all such activities to disgrace Japan as President Pak started tattletale diplomacy and SK ppl started to build statues of comfort women thoughout the U.S.; Japanese reached its limits of patience then.
As you say, Japanese now want to know the truth and Korean do too. Understandable. Probably, we should organize a group of reseachers/historians from both countries. As for my comment about President Pak, I think that, new statement will not be published if President Pak admitted the review is right; Kono Statement was not based on the genuine research, but a product of political trade-off. However, if she does not admit such trade-off and negotiations existed and continue to accuse Japan, PM Abe will take another step, including a new statement which overwrite and delete the old Kono statement.
Zichi,
Below is your comment responding to someone's:
IMO, most of women working at brothels now or in the past do/did not like the job. Therefore, in most cases, working at brothels itself are against their will. Even after they chose the job, they want to escape from the brothel if they can. Do you call those women working at such brothels today as"sex slaves"? What do you exactly mean by "her will" or "forced"?
BARENZAME619
Zichi,
First of all, I must clarify that the term of "comfort women" implies all women who worked at brothels for Japanese soldiers, regardless of whether they were already prostitute, were sold by parents, or cheated by agents. Therefore;
Your comment above is a bit wrong. You should say "These comfort women were mostly Japanese but included many of Asian women such as Koreans or Chinese or Filipinos."
Maybe you wanted to say that most of Korean/Asian comfort women excluding Japanese were kidnapped, but it is in dispute.
I have a lot to say against your belief with the proof available to you, but I do not want to do a proof-battle with you here, because it is just endless. I leave such battle/ research to the intellectulas.
This is your definition of "sex slave". Not universal. I am totally against to use this word, because the word give many innocent people a false impression that Japanese soldiers broke into the house suddenly and kidnapped women and enslaved them. No proof /evidence on that. Maybe better to say, that is in dispute. Or misleading people is the true intention of your using this word? People who use this provocative word (i.e. "sex" and "slave") know how effective the word is especially for the U.S. people who are very sensitive to those two words. However, it just lead the people to the wrong conclusion.
I do not think it is appropriate to use the word which could have various perception just because it is catchy or only based on someone's definition.
You may say that "sex slave" is already commonly used word, however, many aspects of comfort women are still in dispute, not proven, not agreed. Until it is proven and agreed through deep research by both countries, using this word is just a propaganda to disgrace Japan, based on unproven matters.
I agree this. Some were prostitute, some were sold, and some were cheated by local agent. I think that latter two are so called "against their will" although with consent of parents.
I just want to add one more thing: it seems to me that those women who were prostitutes before coming to Japanese brothels are looked down and disdained unfairly. I am totally against it. No one should look down on them. They applied the job by their own will, because they had to choose it in order to survive. Have SK people EVER paid any respect to those women who tried to survive the wartime on her own? They had to do so in order to support her family and herself. Or you do not pay any respect unless they are victims of rape or kidnap? If so, that is the root of the whole issue.
toshiko
South Korea and China wanted Japan to revise Kono apology. So, instead of keeping Kono Apology as Japan's apology, Abe changed his mind and revised.
JoeBigs
Oh, that is simple and I don't need to cut and paste as much......
Just because the ROK side didn't mention the Comfort women that doesn't mean they weren't covered by the treaty.
President Park Chung-hee signs the Korea-Japan Basic Treaty June 22, 1965.
The moment he signed that treaty he accepted the terms of the agreement. You may try and dance your way out of it, but the proof is in the document that President Park Chung-hee.
I understand that you want your nation to claim that the treaty is invalid and try and push for more compensations, but that will not happen. Because if South Korea were to claim that the treaty is invalid then all bets would be off the table and the ROK would be considered untrustworthy.
So the only way your side can make the treaty invalid is for Japan to agree with your side. But, that won't happen, ergo your propaganda war.
BTW I will provide you some unbiased links to help you swim through.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2013/11/291_62653.html
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2196830?uid=3738328&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104367817583
And here is a real good read also it's how lawyers are trying to push to make the 1965 treaty invalid because they want Japan to pay more.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/12/10/47/0302000000AEN20101210001900315F.HTML
Love this one a whole lot, tells how the ROK covered up what Japan paid and what they were suppose to pay.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2005/01/17/2005011761025.html
Always ready to help...
Suin Kim
BARENZAME619Jun. 25, 2014 - 03:57PM JST
OK. Japanese government said “the two countries had worked together on the sensitive wording of the apology” or “the statement was product of diplomatic negotiations between Korea and Japan”. Does it make any difference? Japan said Japan would not revise the Statement. Logically, this means currently Japan has no objection with the content of Kono statement no matter whether what happened to the proceeding of the statement. I think you’d better to stick to Kono statement which was based on the research your own government conducted. Kono statement was not made to please Korea. It was an outcome of Japan’s sincere apology on Imperial Japan’s aggression, which was the constructive step for better Japan even though it hurts.I found very meaningful statements from the editorial of The Japan Times which I hope Japanese who think “there were false info/misunderstanding/exaggerations, etc” read.
“If the government is to uphold the 1993 statement, as it says it will, then the Abe administration needs to do what the statement says Japan will do and make proactive efforts to settle the long-running dispute, instead of repeatedly attempting to play down the nation’s responsibility for the ordeal of the women forced into wartime sexual slavery.”
“Following the release of the review’s outcome, the Abe administration repeated that it would not change the Kono statement. If that’s the case, then the administration should wholly commit itself to what Japan said in the statement, and seek to repair ties with South Korea that have been strained at least in part by its attempt to question the stance of past Japanese governments on this matter.” < http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/06/25/editorials/stop-undermining-kono-statement/#.U6q_z8uKDIU>
As for the absolute lies you mentioned, it’s pointless to bring it here because Kono statement doesn’t include such information and wasn’t based on such information.
Read Kono carefully. It states “ The Government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments. They lived in misery at comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere.”. It said “IN MANY CASES”, not all cases. Don’t be misled.
Asking Japan to face up to the history and is not such an act of disgracing Japan. It’s a shame if someone think it’ disgraceful to face up the history. The world knows Mr. Abe is a revisionist with no inability to face the history. Did you expect President Park stay silent on his historical revisionism? Putting yourself in other’s shoes would help you understand her. Following remark by PM Abe is what made President Park to start to be firm on Japan.
“The definition of what constitutes aggression has yet to be established in academia or in the international community. Things that happened between nations will look differently depending on which side you view them from.”
As statues of comfort women throughout the U.S, why is Japan so upset? What’s wrong with commemorating the comfort women? Japan has set up monuments for the victims of atomic bombings in the US, too. It’s a double standard.
Wow! It sounds like a threat. Nonsense. Do whatever Japan wants and I’ll enjoy watching. Good luck!
tictactogo
@zichi
I've been reading your comments including other "Comfort Woman" related articles, but your comment here suits you well.
Point1) The "Comfort Woman" controversy between Japan vs ROK in the diplomatic ground level is "whether or not Imperial Army of Japan was involved or enforcing the illigal trafficking, abduction, or some sort to recruit prostitues to work in the military brothel". What Koreans including President Park Geun-hye as well as people like yourself are doing is trying to deflect this fundamental point of controversy by emphasizing how bad they were treated based only upon one-sided proofs or vocal statements by ex-prostitutes and turning the subject into "Sex Slave" "Atrocities" "Violation against human rights" "200,000 victims"etc etc. What people should be really asking is who is responsible for those innocent girls to be forced into the prostitution system, rather than criticizing the prostitution system itself during the war time based on the standard moral as of today.
Point2) Unfortunately,the abovesaid point of controversy is no longer important as far as the world is concerned. I must admit that it is accomplished solely by Korean activists spreading "Comfort Woman" propaganda across the world for past few decades while Japanese gov kept themselves silent and did nothing to stop it and instead tried to find the common ground by apologizing and compensating. I have not read a single line in your comments regarding Japanese diligent approach to settle this issue and seems you are completely preoccupied trying to find something to blame Japan with.
Point3) You repeated number of times that relative evidences were burnt or destroyed only based on your speculation. Some of ppl already explained that "Comfort Woman" related documents are not subjected to "inconvenient evidences that Imparial Japan wanted to hide" at the time of WW2. Nevertheless, you cannot prove whether "Comfort Woman" related documents which indicate any involvement of illegal activities by Imperial Japan were or were not included in those destroyed documents and vice versa. Hence, I advice you not to keep ranting your speculation because that only illustrates your "intention to bend the truth to your own system of beliefs".
Point4) You are also trying to accuse Japan for mobilizing "underage girls" for the prostitution system, but Japan had signed "International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children" with the exception of Article5 (Prostitutes must not be less than 21yrs old) for colonized nations. Hence, Japan was not violating the signed policy in accordance with the international law at the time of WW2 even if there were underaged girls in the military brothel.
Point5) The bunch of links and sources you indicated with regards to the terminology of "Sex Slave" are all defined post WW2, especially after Kono Statement was publically announced. The terminology of "Sex Slave" indicating "Comfort Woman" is just a byproduct of Korean propaganda. As I recall, you were saying something like "the definition of prostitute at the time of WW2 and as of today must be distinguished". Did you not? Still yet, you listed bunch of definitions and terminologies defined long after WW2 and it seems double-standard to me.
I was not born during WW2 and never experienced how awful it must be to survive during the war time, so I do not know all pains/sorrows/agonies/etc that those women must have felt. And neither are you. It is easy for me to say "Comfort Woman" was a necessary evil to prevent local rape crimes, but that does not justify awful things that had happened in the military brothel. I know that and the most of Japanese know that. That is why PM Abe did not withdraw Kono Statement because Japan believe they should be acknowledging pains and sufferings Comfort Women went through but also wanted to the world to understand the statement was jointly created with the consent of Korean officials and it is not appropriate for Koreans to continue using the negative sentiment against Japan.
BARENZAME619
zichi,
I don't care when you were born or what your family is like or how long you live in Japan. Also, I did not read the link in your comment which I assume is in favor of your belief. Most of your comment are based on those biased/one-sided info and your speculation. I do not have enough time to read them.
I am not saying that all the link/proof you provided are false information. I am saying that there are many information; some are in favor of your/Korean opinion, some are in favor of my/Japanese opinion, some are in favor of others. Those information have discrepant issues each other. Therefore, I called them "information in dispute", instead of claiming them "my proof/link here is the only truth!!". But it seems to me that you want to believe only the info you want to believe. You never be fair.
This it not true. Once again, I must say: We admitted what we actually have done, HOWEVER we have to deny what we actually have not done. This is all about what Japan want to do.
Suin Kim,
I think that Abe will uphold the statement. But we now know it is invalid, it is not trustworthy statement, whether you like it or not. (although it has some important fact, which is, many women suffered from painful life: That's the reason to keep this statement.) To keep a invalid statement is one thing, but to have a new diplomatic policy is another.
Suin Kim
JoeBigsJun. 26, 2014 - 12:06AM JST
The reason they weren't covered by the treaty is not because ROK didn’t mention. It was non-issue in the treaty.
Who did say President Park Chung-hee didn’t accept the terms of the agreement? I said comfort women was not included in the terms of the agreement.
You misjudge what I said. I didn't suggest I want my government to claim the treaty is invalid and push for more compensatio. What is invalid is Japan’s stance comfort women was settled by the treaty. Has Korean government ever tried to make the treaty invalid by making Japan to agree with Korea? Don’t be upset with what didn’t happen. What Korean government insists is the Treaty didn’t cover the issue of comfort women.
The links are all about the widely known facts about the treaty. There’s no any indication comfort women was settled by the treaty in your links. The money Japan gave to Korea was not free. It was the price for the Japan’s 36 years of harsh colonial rule of Korea. Yes, it was a big money to Korea under poverty then, but that sum can’t cover the immeasurable extent of Japan’s exploitation and Korean sufferings for 36 years. Korea needed the money for economic development and used the money from Japan for it. There’s nothing wrong with it. President Park Jeong-hee‘s government was negligent of its responsibility for the compensation of the victims of forced conscription which was covered by the treaty, but this is Korean domestic matter.
Korea-Japan Treaty of 1965 didn’t settle the issue of comfort women. Moreover, the individual right for seeking damages is still effective as Japanese government acknowledged in 1992.
Don’t mislead Korea is greedy for money. Money is not a main issue here. Korea is affordable to give the 54 surviving comfort women the money as much as they want if they ask Korean government for compensation, but it’s Japan that has obligation to compensate them.
tictactogo
@zichi Sorry for my late response. This article may be outdated, but let me reply anyway.
So you must have experienced the reestablishing process of wherever the country you were born and it was readily available for you to hear wartime experiences, but you never personally experienced how it was like to live through the wartime. Would that change the credibility of what you say? No, it won't. If I say I'm a descendent of Yoko Kawashima (not that I am), would that change my creadibility? No, it won't. Would that make any difference if anyone on the internet claims "I was personally involved in such and such activities" without proving he/she really was directly involved? I don't think so. So thanks for sharing your personal background, but it doesn't change the fact that you are biased as I explained in my last comment.
I highly advice you to start looking into the nature of Koreans and Chinese. I noticed your limited knowledge when you mentioned "Other comfort women came from other countries, but the majority of the women were Korean, probably because look wish, they were closest to the Japanese, and come from the same DNA anyway". You didn't even know all Koreans became Japanese immediately after "Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty" was signed on 1910 until 1945, no matter how much Koreans today are trying to revise "Annexation" into "Invasion" or "Colonization". Both Koreans and Chinese are trying to revise the history after WW2 to this date mainly to gain diplomatic advantages or to deflect their demestic political issues, so you cannot ignore their natures in order to understand their persisting motives to frame Japan as an absolute evil.
Can you please explain what you meant here? Do you mean "the wartime history" as a result of Tokyo Trials? While we are talking about the controversy only started to appear around early 1990s, what are you expecting Japan to accept if neither of Japan nor ROK were unable to find the evidence to prove what ROK is accusing for? In case you haven't noticed, the interpretation of history is almost always grey rather than black&white since every nations have different aspects of history depending on where they stand.
I must say this is BS. When did he ever try to revise the history to deny the past?