Memory and Politics: Discovery of North Korean “Comfort Stations” and the Politics of “Places of Memory”

Abstract

This study examines North Korea’s “comfort stations.” Beginning with the public testimony of Ri Kyung-saeng, a former North Korean “comfort women,” in 1992, the issue of comfort women has risen to the surface in North Korea. In the case of South Korea, active interest in civil society and academia has become the main driving force for comfort women issues. However, in the case of North Korea, there is no civil society or free academic environment. Research on North Korean comfort women, who account for half of the 200,000 Korean comfort women, is very scarce, and the discovery and preservation of data have been difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, in efforts to equally acknowledge the victimhood of all comfort women, research on North Korea’s comfort women is necessary. This study explores three comfort stations, which have been discovered and officially acknowledged by the government of North Korea, and provides an overview of the government’s position toward these historical sites and comfort women’s memories. What is the status of comfort women’s memories as it relates to these comfort stations? How are these places being used by the government? These are some of the questions that guide this chapter’s discussion on how sites of memory are politicized and used as a political tool by governments. In reflecting upon these questions, this study argues that the narratives and stories of North Korea’s comfort women victims should be organized in a more universal and peaceful way as collective memory beyond the individual and state levels.