issue study
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- Expanding the Field of Struggle for the Japanese Military “Comfort Women”
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In the second round of conversation with young scholars, we met with young researchers and activists Lee Eunjin, Lee Jaeim, and Choi Sung Yong, and asked what the issue of the “Comfort Women” in the Japanese military means to their lives, and how it motivates them.
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- Here and now, what is the “issue” of Comfort Women for the Japanese military?
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Now that a considerable amount of time has passed since the issue of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” was publicized, what are the questions young researchers are asking here?
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- How did Japan set up the “comfort stations” in Hainan Island (海南島) and mobilize “comfort women”?
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The right-wingers in Japan deny any direct involvement of the Japanese government, citing that the documents proving that the Japanese Army or Japanese government had directly ordered the establishment of the “comfort stations” have never been found. They also claim that neither the Japanese army nor the Japanese government were involved in mobilizing “comfort women”, and that private businesses simply recruited “comfort women” by illegal means. Having accepted these claims, the Abe administration is contradicting what the previous Japanese government had admitted.
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- Meeting the first-generation researcher, to remember the first step - (3) Kang Jeong-sook
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Kang Jeong-sook majored in the women's history of modern Korea, and currently works as a researcher at the Centre for East Asian History at Sungkyunkwan University. She contributed greatly to the early studies on the ‘Comfort Women’, by investigating the truth of the ‘Comfort Women’ issue, recording the testimonies of the ‘Comfort Women’ victims, etc. while working at the Korean Institute of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery and the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization.
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- Meeting the first-generation researcher, to remember the first step - (2) Song Yeon-ok
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She is an Emeritus Professor of Aoyama Gakuin University. As a Korean in Japan (a Zainichi Korean) and a researcher who laid the foundation for the studies of colonial history and women's history in Japan, she has been playing an important role in investigating the truth about the ‘Comfort Women’ issue. Her main publications include 『Military and Sexual Violence』, 『A Study on the East Asia Japanese military sexual slavery (co-authorship)』, 『A Study of 70 Years of Women's History in Korea (co-authorship)』, 『Colonialism, War, ‘Comfort Women’ for the Military (co-authorship)』, 『War and Social Affairs in East Asia(co-authorship)』, and so on.
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- Remembering the First Steps: Meeting with First-Generation Researchers – (1) Yoon Jung-ok
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She has long been interested in the ‘Comfort Women’ issue and has been striving to unveil the truth about the issue while serving as a professor in English literature at Ewha Womans University. From 1980, she has been searching for and meeting with the ‘Comfort Women’ victims in order to investigate the truth.
