Ending the “lies” about the comfort women with the joint efforts ofJapan and South Korea
作成者 irichjp 公開日 2023 年 6 月 7 日

International Research Institute for Controversial Histories
DirectorYamamoto Yumiko
May,2023
A totally unimaginable and unprecedented movement concerning the comfort womenissue, which has been the anti-Japan symbol in Korea, is developing now. It is theemergence of South Koreans who clearly respond with, “Lies are lies,” to the lies
regarding the Japanese military comfort women which many South Koreans believe tobe true. Many Korean women are participating in this movement.
Overseas, on the other hand, “comfort women” are still defined as “sexual slaves” andnothing has changed when it comes to the wrong perception of the Japanese military
comfort women. The anti-comfort women education planting lies and hatred inchildren’s minds remains a grave concern. Initially, it was some Japanese that ignited
the comfort women issue. In collaboration with the brave, new movement in South
Korea, we must put a period to the comfort women issue.
Widely installed comfort women statues overseas in the 2010s
A comfort woman monument was built for the first time overseas in 2010 in Palisades
Park City, New Jersey, USA. It was the outcome of the local Korean American citizens’
movement for the installation. In the following year, 2011, a South Korean
organization, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by
Japan (presently the Council for Justice), installed the first comfort woman statue infront of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Korea. A replica of this statue was firstestablished overseas in 2013 in Glendale City, California, USA. This was also led by
local Korean American citizens. At present, there are about 30 comfort women statues
or monuments at both public and private sites overseas, in the United States, Canada,
Australia and Germany. In Korea alone, there are reportedly more than 140 statues.[i]1The words inscribed on these statues and monuments are objectionable. Japanesemilitary comfort women are described with lies such as “sexual slaves,” “forcedabduction,” “comfort girls,” “two hundred thousand or several hundred thousand
comfort women,” “the largest-scale human trafficking,” and “most of them were killedduring the war.”
The emergence of South Koreans who say, “Lies are lies.”
Then, in 2019, a totally unexpected incident occurred. Koreans who can say, “Lies arelies” appeared. In Korea, in July, the book Anti-Japan Nationalism became a best seller.
And in December, a movement started against the demonstration by the Council for
Justice that took place every Wednesday in front of the comfort woman statue, asking
for the removal of the comfort woman statue. It was simply amazing that South Koreans
themselves voiced “No!” against the comfort woman statue.
Brave actions taken by the Korean civil group led by Mr. Kim Byeong Heon andothers
One of the leaders of this movement to eliminate the comfort women statues is Mr. Kim
Byeong Heon, Representative, Korean History Textbook Research Institute. He led theformation of the “National Action to Abolish the Comfort Women Act” and “TheAlliance to End Comfort Women Fraud” and since 2019 he has led the protest
movement asking for the elimination of the comfort woman statue for one hundred andfifty or so times. They proclaim, “What’s great about holding up signs of fraudulent
claims of ‘Forced abduction! Sexual slaves! War criminals!’ and building comfort
women statues everywhere in the world?” It is truly risky, and it can even endanger
their lives to say these things aloud in Korea. And yet, the activities of Mr. Kim and hisgroup are not limited only within Korea. They went to Berlin, Nagoya, and Tokyo.
They sent a statement of protest to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, where theyplanned to install a comfort woman statue and made a statement to the United Nations
Human Rights Committee.
Mr. Kim Byeong Heon published a book titled Red Wednesday—Lies of Comfort
Women Campaign Alive for 30 Years in 2021. The Japanese version of the book waspublished in 2022 by Bungei Shunju-sha. What is common between the two books, Red
Wednesday and Anti-Japan Nationalism, is the assertion that Korea must stop lying inorder to become a trustworthy and respectable country.
2Serious influence of school textbooks stating lies about the comfort women
Regarding the comfort women issue, the most serious problem are the school textbooks.
Mr. Kim Byeong Heon stated during the Japan-Korea symposium held in Tokyo in
November 2022[ii]In Korea, school textbooks from the elementary to high school state fallacies asestablished facts, such as abduction, rape and murder of comfort women by theJapanese military, and disseminate, wide and large, these fallacies and teach them topupils and students. What is written in the textbook for South Korean children about the
comfort women are all lies that help them embrace vague hatred against Japan, afriendly neighbor, which is a criminal act. To teach lies and hatred to the future
generation yet to grow up is to sow the seed of struggle and conflict between Japan andKorea.
Japanese who ignited the comfort women issue and continue to provoke theKoreans
In the first place, it was Japanese that set fire to the comfort women issue and spread itto Korea, the United States and the international community. In 1992, at the United
Nations Human Rights Committee (presently the Human Rights Council), a Japaneselawyer Mr. Totsuka Etsuro dubbed comfort women “sexual slaves” without muchconsideration. It was “just an idea,” but it was the very beginning of the comfort women
fuss.[iii]In the following year, 1993, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations submitted astatement “Counter Report by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations—Human rights
in Japan are questioned,” to the examination meeting of the 49th session of the United
Nations Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[iv] Thiswas supposedly the first NGO statement regarding the comfort women issue submitted
to the human rights treaty bodies. According to the statement, the Japanese military“took the policy of ‘Three Annihilation Operations of Kill All, Rob All and Burn All’and invaded in the beautiful names of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere andthe Liberation of Asia,” “forcibly mobilized people in the colonial and occupied regions
into the war as soldiers, military employees and comfort women as well as workers at
the war industries, causing them enormous pain,” and “as to the military comfort
women issue, not only Korean and Chinese women, but also women in the occupied
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regions in East Asia and civilian women from Netherlands and Australia were forced
into sexual slavery, which caused many tragedies totally unforgivable in terms ofhumanity.” The statement was made by lawyers representing Japan. Who would think
what was stated to be a lie?
And in October 2020, nearly 30 years after the event, I participated in the examination
meeting concerning Japan of the 136th session of the Committee of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The same discussion went on and Japanese
asserted, the same as ever, “Comfort women were Japanese military sexual slaves” andcriticized “those who try to deny the history by attempting to erase the description fromthe textbook and removing the comfort women statue.” Thus, Japanese who had ignited
the comfort women issue keep propagating the story of comfort women being sexualslaves even today.
For the future generation, put a period to the comfort women issue
Mr. Kim Byeong Heon concluded his speech during the Korean Conservative Great
Talk Rally held in Seoul, in January 2021:
Hopefully, on the day when the Council for Justice that has been consistently lying for
thirty years disappear from here, justice will justly stand here and the Korea-Japan
relationship, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, will recover and become as solid as
an iron wall. For that bright day to come, let us all unite and make efforts together. The
future of the Republic of Korea is in our hands.[v]The comfort women issue is one of the causes of the troubled Japan- Korea relationship.
There are brave South Koreans who fight to remove distortion and fabrication related tothe comfort women issue. Comparing to the courageous actions taken by Mr. Kim
Byeong Heon and others, I cannot help but feel angry at those dishonorable Japanese
who gladly work to denigrate their own country. As for this matter, I feel totally sorry
for our great ancestors.
Japan and Korea must cooperate in order to stop the lie that “comfort women were
sexual slaves.” I believe that it is our generation’s responsibility to do so for ourchildren on whom the future depends. As specific tasks, I am thinking of supporting theKorean civilian activities like Mr. Kim Byeong Heon’s, publishing the Japan-Korea

4joint study and statement, holding international symposiums at home and abroad andworking on the United Nations in our collaborated efforts.

[i] The Sankei News, December 13, 2021. Comfort women statues, 160 statues in 10years, Conflict over the statues in South Korea.
https://www.sankei.com/article/20211213-NMKYUMBBGFIXBFUWU3SBZLVLGQ/[ii] Material from “Japan-Korea Joint Symposium” sponsored by the International
Research Institute for Controversial Histories on November 16, 2022, at Bunkyo Civic
Sky Hall, Tokyo.
https://i-rich.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022.11.16_Symposium.pdf[iii] The Lie of “Comfort Women Being Sexual Slaves” Spread to the World by theUnited Nations—Report by the United Nations, Geneva, delegation, published by Jiyusha, May 29, 2016[iv] The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (counter report to the 3rdsession) “Counter Report by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations: Human rights
are questioned,” compiled and written by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations,published by Kouchi-shobo (sold by Kiri-shobo), 1993.
https://www.nichibenren.or.jp/activity/international/library/human_rights/library_report-3rd_jfba.html[v] Mr. Kim Byeong Heon’s speech “Only when the Council for Justice andRemembrance disappears, the Korea-Japan relationship will be resumed” at the South
Korean Conservative Great Talk Rally
http://nadesiko-action.org/?p=17750

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