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

History of Japanese Military “Comfort Stations” Dates Back 130 Years

Japan’s state-level responsibility for the “comfort women” issue in the context of the country’s history of licensed prostitution system

Song Yeon-ok

#Song Yeon-ok

[사진 3] 청팍옌 박사 가족이 소유했던 자란 주롱 케칠의 상가 건물은 일부가 과거 위안소로 사용되었다는 이유로 처음으로 보존 대상으로 선정됐다. (사진 제공:케빈 블랙번)

Characteristics of the Issue of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery in Singapore

Until 2022, when the book The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory was published, it was widely thought in Singapore that there were no Singaporean "Comfort Women" who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese military.

Kevin Blackburn

[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

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)