Thread by @yamachandemonde

Truth of comfor twomen:
- from history of Korean to Kono statement -

The living standard of people in the Korean Peninsula was extremely low.

"Korea and Her Neighbors" by Isabella Bird

I shrink from describing intra-mural Seoul. I thought it the foulest city on earth till I saw Peking, and its smells the most odious, till I encountered Shao-shing! For a great city and a capital its meanness is indescribable.

There were women called kisaen, who engaged in entertainment, including sexual services.
Kisaeng belonged to a slave class.

Under annexation of Japan, Korean people became "Japanese." It means there were Japanese-Korean soldiers.
Recruitment:
year/passed/volunteered
1938 / 406 / 2,946
1939 / 613 / 12,348
1940 / 3,060 / 84,443
1941 / 3,208 / 144,743
1942 / 4,077 / 254,273
1943 / 6,000 / 303,394

If the Japanese really kidnaped Korean girls, didn't the Korean men resist at all when their daughters were taken away?
Didn't the Korean soldiers rebel? (Rather, didn't they also use a comfort station?)
Why are there no illegitimate children like the Lai Dai Han in Vietnam?

Korean comfort women were sold by their parents to Korean brokers. Rather, Japanese police cracked down on bad prostitution mediators to protect women.

Comfort women, far from slaves, earned a large mount of salary, 300 - 1500 yen per month.
On the other hand, soldiers' salary was 15 - 20 yen per month.
Recruitment advertisement and payslip:

Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report 49
Even U.S.Army (hostile to Japan) concluded they were "prostitutes."
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Japanese_…

Since the Korean War in 1950, Korean comfort women were offered to U.S.Army as "supples."
politico.eu/article/my-bod…
reuters.com/article/us-sou…

The Agreement between Japan and Korea in 1965 stipulates that Japan supply $300 million (in grants) + $200 million (loans), and that problem concerning ... claims are "settled completely and finally," and no contention shall be made thereof.
mofa.go.jp/press/release/…

In 1965(1975?), Seijuro Arafune, a member of the Diet of the Liberal Democratic Party, made an unsubstantiated claim at a rally in his district that "145,000 Korean sex slaves died during World War II.

Because of this, although it was not even an official statement, the figure of 200,000 was estimated and spread without any verification.
awf.or.jp/e1/facts-07.ht…

In 80's, Seiji Yoshida (the details of his origins are unclear, possibly a spy) witnessed Japanese military forcefully took away girls in Jeju island.

In 1996, he admitted to invent this story.

The Jeju Newspaper (Aug. 14, 1989) concluded that there was no evidence nor testimony Japanese Army forcefully kidnapped girls.

Interview Jeju islanders:

Both Coomaraswamy Report(1996) and McDougall Report(1998) are based on this falsehood of Seiji Yoshida.
Coomaraswamy did ignore the evidence investigated by U.S.

Asahi shimbun newspaper spead widely this made-up story.
Finally in 2014, admitted it was false report and withdrew it.
asahi.com/articles/SDI20…

Although equated intentionally with "comfort women" and "volunteer corps", this journal made up a plausible excuse for the confusion.
asahi.com/articles/SDI20…

Beginning of Kono statement:
In 1992, Asahi shinmbun newspaper reported "evidence about involvement of the military found", but quoted document in this article were intentionally cut-off and distorted to mislead.
asahi.com/articles/ASG8L…

In reality, the notification was to prohibit for honor of military to bring comfort women by means of threat, kidnapping, and so on.
jacar.archives.go.jp/das/meta/C0412…

The article above led Japanese government to announce Kono statement and to found the National Fund for Asian Peace and Women.

However, Kono statement was NOT decided by Cabinet.

Here is the detail:
mofa.go.jp/a_o/rp/page24e…

The Korean side always demanded the Japanese government to recognize "force."
The Japansese government consistently refused because there was no evidence.
As a compromise, the Japanese side accepted some requests of the Korean side.

The Korean government evaded the responsability for agreement by blaming on Korean citizens through the statements that it would not be acceptable because of "public opinion" or "opposition of Council."

The Korean government emphasized to demand no more compensation from Japan. However its real intent was to draw from Japanese government by means of civic group.

"The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery" (present "The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance"), Pro-North Korea group, obstracts activities of the Japanese side.

Representative of this council, Yoon Mee-hyang was accused of embezzlement of funds.
Clearly their purpose is not to solve the issue, nor to heal wound of comfort women, rather they have a plot to divide relationship between Japan and Korea with a backup of North Korea.

Lee Yong Soo, a self-proclaimed comfort woman set up by The Korean Council
She misrepresented her age, her testimony was changed again and again.

The Fund projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Netherlands were implemented with the understanding and positive reception by the government and related groups of the respective country.

According to the IWG report in 2007, The investigation under the Clinton administration, hostile to Japan, the fact that no records have surfaced of war crimes in relation to comfort women indicates the low reliability of the testimony of comfort women.

Japan–South Korea Comfort Women Agreement:
Japan provided one billion yen in 2015.
Korean Foreign Minister Yun announced "resolved finally and irreversibly with this announcement."
Korean government, as always, broke the international agreement.
mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/kr/page…

Modern Korean prostitution, sex trades, trafficking:
ibtimes.com/south-korea-th…

news.yahoo.com/photos/south-k…
nytimes.com/2004/10/19/wor…
content.time.com/time/photogall…

Japan's Efforts on the Issue of Comfort Women:
the issue of comfort women, was “settled completely and finally” with the Agreement in 1965 and "resolved finally and irreversibly" with the agreement between Japan and the ROK in 2015.

mofa.go.jp/policy/postwar…

"Forceful taking away" of comfort women by the Japanese military and government authorities could not be confirmed in any of the documents that the Government of Japan was able to identify.
mofa.go.jp/a_o/rp/page22e…

"Sex slaves"
The expression "sex slaves" contradicts the facts so that it should not be used. This point was confirmed with the ROK at the occasion of the Japan-ROK Agreement in December 2015 and the expression “sex slaves” is not used in the agreement.
mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/kr/page…

The figure "200,000 persons" lacks concrete evidence. It is virtually impossible to determine the total number of comfort women as no documents have been found which either indicate the total number or give sufficient ground to establish an estimate.
mofa.go.jp/a_o/rp/page25e…

ref.
"Wartime Military Records on Comfort Women" by Archie Miyamoto