Definition of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women”(Japanese military sexual slavery)
The term “Japanese military ‘Comfort Women’”, also known as Japanese military sexual slavery, refers to women who were deceptively and forcibly mobilized by the Japanese military during its wars of aggression in Asia and subjected to sexual exploitation in military comfort stations. The first comfort stations were established in 1932 during the Shanghai Incident in China, and they proliferated between 1937 and 1945 as the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Asia-Pacific War expanded. Women were mobilized not only from colonial Korea and Taiwan but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, East Timor, and many other regions occupied by Japan.
Entertainment facility for the army in Shanghai built with wooden barracks
(Source: Archive 814)
Regulations for the Use of the Navy 'Comfort Station' of the 12th SpecialBase Unit Command
(Source: Archive 814)
Evolution of Terminology
Since the 1990s, when the issue came to public attention, the terminology used to describe victims has evolved. Initially, victims were referred to as “Jeongshindae” (Volunteer Corps), but it was later revealed that the Jeongshindae was a labor mobilization organization for wartime factories, distinct from “Comfort Women.”
Following the clarification of the distinction between the Jeongshindae and the Japanese military “Comfort Women,” the term “Military Comfort Women” (Jonggun Wianbu) came to be employed as a substitute for Jeongshindae. However, the expression jonggun—literally “to accompany the army”—carries connotations of voluntary participation, as in the cases of a war correspondent or embedded journalist. Consequently, scholars and activists have argued that the term is inappropriate for describing the coercive system of “Comfort Women.” Similarly, the word “comfort” itself, signifying “to console or to put at ease,” has been criticized as reflecting the perspective of the perpetrators and military authorities, thereby obscuring and even beautifying the violence inherent in the system.
The terminology that most precisely captures the conceptual reality of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” system is “Japanese Military Sexual Slavery.” This expression is widely adopted in United Nations documents and other international forums, as it effectively conveys that the abuses suffered by women in military comfort stations constituted systematic sexual enslavement.
Nevertheless, because the designation “sexual slavery” may evoke ongoing psychological distress for survivors, it is considered more appropriate in individual contexts to refer to them as “victims of the Japanese military ‘Comfort Women’ system” or simply as “survivors.”
The Establishment of Comfort Stations and the Mobilization of “Comfort Women”
Map of Comfort Stations Distribution © Active Museum of “War and Women's Human Rights”(https://wam-peace.org/ianjo/)
Comfort stations were established throughout the Asia-Pacific: China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, and more. The officially stated purposes for the establishment of military comfort stations included the prevention of rape against women in occupied territories, the control of venereal diseases among soldiers, the boosting of troop morale through sexual “comfort,” and the safeguarding of military secrets. In reality, however, these institutions functioned as a mechanism for the systematic institutionalization of sexual violence against women, designed to facilitate the efficient prosecution of Japan’s imperial wars of aggression.
The organization and management of comfort stations varied according to time and place. Some were directly established and operated by the Japanese military, while others were constructed by the military but managed by civilians under military supervision. Still others were created by appropriating licensed brothels near military garrisons, restricting access exclusively to soldiers. Regardless of the form or mode of operation, the Japanese military exercised overarching control and supervision over the functioning of these comfort stations.
In the early stages, Japanese military “Comfort Women” were drawn primarily from Japan’s home islands and its colonies, such as Korea and Taiwan. As the war became protracted and battlefronts expanded, however, the recruitment extended to women from occupied areas such as China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In some cases, even European women, including Dutch women residing in Indonesia, were subjected to the system.
Women were mobilized through diverse and coercive means, including abduction, human trafficking, and fraudulent recruitment under the guise of employment. The Japanese military was deeply involved not only in the recruitment process but also in the transportation of women to military comfort stations. The precise number of women forced into this system remains unknown, with scholarly estimates ranging widely from 80,000 to as many as 400,000.
Life for the Japanese military “Comfort Women” in these stations was marked by extreme misery. The number of soldiers they were compelled to serve varied according to location and period, but survivors have testified that, particularly on Sundays, soldiers came in ceaselessly, to the point where they could not count how many they had been forced to endure. Permission to leave was rarely granted, and they were subjected to compulsory and regular medical examinations for venereal diseases. Pregnancies often resulted in forced abortions, and newborn infants were immediately taken away. In addition to sexual exploitation, they were also subjected to exploitative labor, such as laundry and sewing, and endured confinement, beatings, torture, and forms of violence so atrocious as to defy description.
Kim Hak-sun’s Testimony and Public Disclosure After Half a Century
After the Asia-Pacific War, survivors internalized their suffering as shame under patriarchal norms and remained silent. Although terms like “virgin mobilization” and “Jeongshindae” were known, these were not recognized as problems. In a society that stigmatized victims of sexual violence as “sinners,” the “Comfort Women” issue was seen as personal shame, not structural violence.
In the late 1980s, democratization and the women’s rights movements challenged this silence. In 1990, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan was formed to pursue truth and accountability. On August 14, 1991, survivor Kim Hak-sun testified publicly, declaring, “I am the living proof.” Her testimony marked the turning point that brought the issue into public discourse after half a century. This spurred testimonies by other survivors and spread global activism.
Kim Hak-sun testifying at a press conference at the Tokyo District Court in 1991
(Source: Archive 814)
The Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue as an Agenda for Women’s Rights and Peace
(Left) The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, held on December 8, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan (Provided by the International Committee for Joint Nomination of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register (ICJN))
(Right)Meeting for the selection of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” records (Provided by the International Committee for Joint Nomination of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register (ICJN))
(First photo) The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, held on December 8, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan (Provided by the International Committee for Joint Nomination of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register (ICJN))
(Second photo)Meeting for the selection of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” records (Provided by the International Committee for Joint Nomination of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register (ICJN))
For more than three decades, survivors who have borne witness to their experiences worldwide, together with the many individuals and organizations that have supported and stood in solidarity with them, have persistently called for the uncovering of the truth and a just resolution of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” issue. Through the Asian Solidarity Conference for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, they forged cross-border alliances and sought to ensure that such atrocities would never recur by raising awareness through the Wednesday Demonstrations, other forms of street activism, and educational initiatives.
They also brought the issue before international organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations, thereby transforming the Japanese military “Comfort Women” issue into a historical lever for the protection of women’s rights in wartime. Notably, in the year 2000, survivors and citizens from South and North Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and other countries convened the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery.