Marking the 20th anniversary of the ‘Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery in 2000’ 

The first “art teacher” of the “Comfort Women” survivors who live in the House of Sharing. I met and listened to the story of artist Kyung-Shin Lee, the author of “Flowers Unbloomed,” which contains the behind story of the painting class she conducted for five years from 1993.

At a time when the history of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” is increasingly being disparaged and distorted, digital archives are expanding their role as both a reliable repository of information and a platform for communication.

The suffering of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women,” one of the most tragic human rights abuses of the 20th century, should be preserved and managed as historical documentary heritage. This is crucial to prevent such atrocities from recurring and provide a lesson to future generations.

 Panel: Nam Kijeong (Institute for Japanese Studies, Seoul National University)/ Cho Yanghyeon (Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security)/ Cho Sihyeon (The Center of Historical Truth and Justice)

Professor Jing Williams considers her education on the “Comfort Women” issue as “a process of planting seeds for the future,” recognizing that some of her students may become advocates for women’s human rights.

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.

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

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?  

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.

In some way or another, testimony literature must provide its own answer to the question of what to represent and how. So what was the answer found by Kim Soom's novel "One Left" (Hyundae Munhak, 2016)?

Nam Kijeong (Institute for Japanese Studies, Seoul National University)/ Cho Yanghyeon (Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security)/ Cho Sihyeon (The Center of Historical Truth and Justice)