Webzine-KYEOL │ Research Institute on Japanese Military Sexsual Slavery (RIMSS)

A Story of Constant Struggle: The “Comfort Women” Issue in North Korea

Historian Harrison C. Kim traces how discourse on “Comfort Women” in North Korea has evolved—at times in dialogue with the outside world—while developing distinct advocacy practices and perspectives.

Cheehyung Harrison Kim

“Comfort Girls”: The Forgotten Tragedy of Child Exploitation

The “Comfort Women” system was not only a violation of women’s rights, but also a grave infringement of children’s rights. In this article, Professor Ñusta Carranza Ko examines how imperial Japanese authorities systematically violated the rights of underage girls, in direct contravention of international conventions of the time, reframing the issue as a case of child rights violations.

Ñusta Carranza Ko

Images of “Comfort Women” Survivors at the Time of Their Rescue by Allied Force, as Seen in a Chinese Magazine

A report on the “Comfort Women” survivors rescued by the Allied Forces, as featured in the Chinese magazine “Da Zhan Hua Ji,” published just beforethe end of World War Ⅱ.

Liu Guangjian (刘广建)

The Meaning of “Using Comfort Stations” for Japanese Soldiers

The role and function of “comfort stations” as revealed in numerous memoirs written by Japanese soldiers

Aya Furuhashi (古橋綾)

What a Former Japanese Soldier Who Served as the Recreation Section Chief Saw and Failed to Say

Aya Furuhashi sheds light on the unspoken truths that emerge from the gaps between the lines of the the memoir, Wuhan Military Logistics Base, written by Seikichi Yamada.

Aya Furuhashi (古橋綾)

[사진 2] 통곡의 벽 서쪽에 마련된 희생자 묘지에는 다양한 집단의 희생자를 기억하는 추모비들 이 서있다. 사진은 성 강제노동 희생자 추모비이다.

Visiting the Memorial Museum Ravensbrück, the Site of the Largest Women’s Concentration Camp under Nazi Germany

The irony is that Germany, which is often hailed as a “model” country for past liquidation by providing compensation to victims of wartime forced labor through government-industry collaboration, did not even include women forced into sexual slavery in the category of victims entitled to such compensation and still does not recognize their legal victim status.

Jung Yong Suk

Documenting Imperial Japanese Military’s Atrocities Against Women in China

While warfare continues inflicting damage and suffering in today’s world, and rape of women is still used as an instrument of armed conflicts, it is critical to bring the narratives of the “Comfort Women” into public memory.

Peipei Qiu

The rooms of the surviving “Comfort Women” - Park Ok-sun’s room

Upon Park Ok-sun's return to South Korea, she moved back and forth between her younger brother's house and her nephew's house in Seoul, and eventually was admitted to in 2002.

Kim Dae-wol

The Story of Bae Bong-gi – “We luckily managed to survive amid that war.”

In her book which was translated into Korean in 2014, Kawata Fumiko vividly yet calmly unraveled the testimony of Bae Bong-gi, one of the Korean "Comfort Women" who was taken to Okinawa. Based on the testimonies and data collected from Okinawa residents, Japanese soldiers, as well as Bae Bong-gi, this article describes the detailed circumstances experienced by Bae Bong-gi and the “Comfort Women” surrounding the U.S. military’s air raids that took place on the Kerama Islands, Okinawa.

Kawata Fumiko (川田文子)

The rooms of the surviving “Comfort Women” – Songnisan Lee Ok-sun's room

Songnisan Grandmother had anticipated that she would live in Songnisan for the rest of her life but ended up coming to the House of Sharing in the fall of 2018 after having knee surgery which made it difficult for her to easily move around.

Kim Dae-wol

Historical Memory