BARENZAME619 comments

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.

PM Abe has constantly tried to revise the history of the country's war past.

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.

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;

believe that some of those military prostitutes were prostitutes before becoming on in the military, These were probably mostly Japanese women but also some Korean prostitutes.

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.

Sex slaves are women forced to give sexual services against their will whether they receive payment or not. These sex slaves are unable to end or escape from their situation for fear of violence or death against them or even other members of their family.

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.

Some of prostitutes in the military brothels were willing women some were not and some were taken against their will.

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.

Suin, Kim,

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 review team also research what the Japanese population deny?

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.

he 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?

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:

You have also claimed that if a Comfort Women was forced to provide sexual services against her will then its not rape because it happened in a legal military brothel. If those cases did happen, then they were indeed, sexual slaves, a war crime and an atrocity.

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"?

Suin Kim,

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.

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,

What Japanese deny today is all the exaggeration and false information

"Japanese" in my previous comment means the whole country of Japan (=Japanese ppl), not necessarily includes the Japanese government.

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?

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.

One of those experts the historian, Professor Ikuhiko Hata has in many previous occasions and in publications denied the existence of the Comfort Women. The situation would be greatly improved, I believe, if there wasn't the constant denials and attempts at imperialist wartime history revisionism and the past should be accepted so we can all move on.

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.

justbcuzisay,

The issue is about rape, not prostitution.

Above is your comment. From this comment, I thought that, 1) you think that comfort women were raped, not engaged in prostitution, and 2) therefore you are accusing Japan. Am I misunderstanding you?

Well, it obviously seems that English is not native language either for you or me. If you think you are friend of Japan and try to organize or straighten all the information, please write your opinion clearly. I will try that way too.

justbcuzisay,

No, I am not missing your point.

The accusations being investigated are that women were kidnapped/coerced/forced into acts without their consent. The buildings might have been established as 'legal brothels' but if women were tricked or brought there against their wills, the legality of brothels no longer factors into this conversation. My opinions of prostitution has nothing to do with this conversation. No one has accused anyone of illegal prostitution. The claims are of sexual slavery. The matter needing resolved is whether these women were forced against their will and if so by whom.

You are accusing Japan because you think that those women were "kidnapped/coerced/forced" to become comfort women.

To make it clear, i want to categorize what "coerce" or "forcibility" means:

Category1: physically/violently forced - this implies that a soldier broke into a house suddenly and kidnapped a women. However, there is no effective proof or official evidence or records from either SK side or Japan side, or even from any other countries including the U.S. (If you do have any , I strongly recommend you should submit it to the SK government.)

Category 2: psychologically forced- this implies that a women become a comfort women unwillingly or reluctantly. This include various cases of women who ; a) were sold by parents ( in this case, her parents knew the fact),or b) were cheated by local agent. They were the victims of human trafficking, but not "slaves".

Category 3: not forced- This word applied to women who applied for the job voluntarily for money for any reason such as poverty, debt, or simply because that was the best money-making job for her.

As for category 1, as I mentioned above, there is no proof of "physical forcibility". You may say that there are many oral testimonies from comfort women, but I think it is already known to you, those testimonies were later found that the women were sold by their parents (which supposed to belong category 2) or the women mistook the memory of WWII for that of Korean War which is nothing to do with Japan.

If you claim that more oral testimonies of comfort women should be heard, I think that oral testimonies from Japanese soldiers should also be heard. Just to be fair.

As for category 2, although those parents who sold their daughter and those local agent who cheated the women should be also accused, Japan is still responsible for exploiting the brothels where many of poor women were working reluctantly. Japan admitted this fact. Therefore, Japan apologized and paid compensation.

You are making the issue of " the consent from the woman" . I don't think that all of the comfort women gave their consent, but as someone said above

So many girls had to choose prostitution business because of poverty in the past all over the world, including Japanese girls. I'm sorry for them, but I'm not going to disgrace them. They had to survive through difficult times.

Finally, it seems to me that those women who belong categorize 3 are looked down and disdained unfairly, especially in SK. 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.

justbcuzisay,

Please stop trying to twist my words.

I am not twisting your words; I am asking you a question. Look. This is very important. How a person/country thinks about legally permitted prostitution (or should I say, whether a prostitution should be legally permitted or not) is a key to resolve any prostitution issues which is currently happening or will happen in the future. You are not obliged to answer me, but think about it.

justbcuzisay,

The issue is about rape, not prostitution. By saying that prostitution was legal, it seems that you are saying that if women are prostitutes than men can treat them like animals. I am questioning this misogynistic thinking , I have made no 'emotional statement' against Japan.

Do you mean that prostitution will be allowed if the men treated them in a courteous manner?

If "yes", it means that you are approving the idea that women will sell their sex if treated well.

If "no", then all the world must immediately stop the business of any and all brothels, especially SK which is the biggest exporter of prostitutes (incl. both voluntarily and involuntarily) today.

You also must ask to yourself and those prostitute in SK that buying sex of a woman who became a prostitute unwillingly for money (due to poverty, or debt, or simply no other job available) is a rape or a commercial practice as sex industry.

You are not emotional, but you are falling into a self-contradiction.

Japan and Japanese people NEVER denied that there were comfort women for Japanese soldiers. 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.

If SK does not like the review, they have to organize research group consisting of historians from both Japan and SK OR submit the issue to the international court, in order to find the truth. Japan is ready for this.

Do you SK say that Japan should leave you alone and not rub salt into the wound of comfort women? No! Japan left you alone and try not to touch the wound for the sake of comfort women's pride/honor for long long time. But then SK started to spread all the false information and exaggerated story to disgrace Japan. Do not say "don't reveal the truth" or "don't tell the secrets we promised to the world."

As Ms. Cho Yoon-sun (The South Korean Minister of Gender Equality and Family) said at the ceremony of the Manga Festival, "the comfort women issue is a universal one that concerns more than South Korea and a certain country" . I hope that she will start speaking about the Lai-Dai-Han or Yankon Jyu (Yanggongju) issues of her own country. (If you do not know these terms, please google.) If she does so, it will truly contribute to the issue of women's right under war.