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Ten years have passed since August 14, the day on which survivor Kim Hak-soon first spoke out, was declared the International Memorial Day for Japanese Military “Comfort Women,” and today we mark the 10th Memorial Day. Following Kim Hak-soon’s testimony, survivors not only from Korea but from throughout Asia raised their voices, and the call to create a society in which the issue of Japanese military sexual slavery is remembered and sexual violence is not tolerated has spread globally.

 


This call is demonstrated through the erecting of “Statues of Peace” in many places around the world. However, the Japanese Government, which attempts to silence the voices of survivors by claiming that the issue was resolved through the 2015 Japan-ROK Agreement, is blatantly trying to erase these statues in different countries. The Statue of Peace which was erected in the Mitte District of Berlin, Germany in 2020 did not give in to the pressure from the Japanese Government, and a resolution supporting its permanent installation was adopted by the Mitte district council. However, at the May 11 Summit between the leaders of Germany and Berlin, Prime Minister Kishida made the outrageous request to the German Chancellor to remove the statue.




The Japanese Government’s such attempts to erase the issue of military sexual slavery has also created an environment in Japan, a country which ranks 116th on the Gender Gap Index and is still underdeveloped when it comes to women’s human rights, whereby along with ethnic discrimination, survivors and their supporters are also condemned and denigrated as “anti-Japanese” symbols.


 

Moves to suppress the voices of not only survivors but also their supporters have continued in the bashing against Korea’s Yoon Mee-hyang and the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance, who have long stood alongside the women who survived Japanese military sexual slavery. The mass media have made baseless allegations of misconduct, and even when these have been clarified, efforts to eliminate Yoon Mee-hyang continue.

 


In Japanese society, survivors of sexual violence and their supporters are blamed, or the damage is denied. In May of this year, a man accused of forcible sexual assault was acquitted in the Toyama District Court. The reasons given for this were that “she did not call for help,” and “the woman’s testimony is unreliable.” Survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery have also been met with this same criticism.

 


Survivor Lee Ok-sun Halmoni came from a poor family, and unable to go to school she was sent out to work as a servant and taken to a comfort station. She has testified that she was raped by Japanese soldiers, while being subjected to violence and deprived of her freedom. Speaking of her frustration, she has stated, “even decades after being freed, they still say ‘you went there yourselves to make money,’ and even though we were forcibly taken there, they just say ‘we don’t know that’ and make no apology at all.”

 


There is also the reality of girls with no place to go becoming victims of sex trafficking and pornography. When hearing about the survivors of military sexual slavery, these girls also say, “that is us.”

 


The suffering of women who became victims of Japanese military sexual slavery under the patriarchal society, colonial rule and wartime conditions is linked to the suffering of girls who become victim to sexual exploitation in Japanese society, where female sexuality remains a commodity. A new law which does not explicitly prohibit the filming of these girls performing sexual acts was recently passed. Japan is a country which implemented the military sexual slavery system as a national policy, and statements by remorseless public figures that it was “necessary” go unchallenged; sexual exploitation still continues unchanged in this society today.

 


However, Lee Ok-sun Halmoni says: “The Japanese Government is just waiting for all of the survivors to die, but that will not happen. There are those that follow us, those that will come after us.” “I feel very embarrassed to talk about this. It is embarrassing, but I believe we have to record this in history. Without knowing history, you cannot oppose war. You cannot live in peace.”

 


On this 10th International Memorial Day for Japanese Military “Comfort Women,” we take these words of the survivors to heart. Let us continue to move forward together for a society which does not tolerate the ongoing sexual exploitation and sexual violence, nor any form of violence.

 

 

 

August 14, 2022

Japan Nationwide Action for Resolution of the Japan’s Military “Comfort Women” Issue