Abstract
Abstract Before and during the Second World War, Japan established a legalised system of sexual slavery, in which approximately up to 200 000 women, euphemistically known as ‘comfort women’, were exploited. Although the victims came from all the regions of the Japanese Empire, the majority of them were Korean. While initial reconciliation attempts were met with refusal, a seemingly positive step was taken in December 2015, when South Korea and Japan announced that they had reached an agreement which would ‘finally and irreversibly’ resolve this issue. The main argument developed throughout the present article is that the agreement does not do justice in addressing the victims’ needs and rights in many ways, with the need for acknowledgement and memorialisation being primarily neglected. A critical evaluation of the 2015 agreement is particularly important in light of its suspension due to the dissolution of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation.
Highlights
Between 1932 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army together with the support of the Japanese Government established an institutionalised system of sexual violence
While initial reconciliation attempts were met with refusal, a seemingly positive step was taken in December 2015, when South Korea and Japan announced that they had reached an agreement which would ‘ and irreversibly’ resolve this issue
The victims came from all the regions of the Japanese Empire, Korea was the main source for procuring ‘comfort women’
Summary
Between 1932 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army together with the support of the Japanese Government established an institutionalised system of sexual violence. In this rape system, thousands of women from Japan’s occupied territories were forced to serve as sex Downloaded from Brill.com03/02/2022 02:17:34AM. Thousands of women from Japan’s occupied territories were forced to serve as sex Downloaded from Brill.com03/02/2022 02:17:34AM Via free access ramaj slaves for the Japanese troops These women were known euphemistically as ‘comfort women’, and the rape centres where they were exploited as ‘comfort stations’. The Medical Bureau of this Ministry requested that the recruitment process involved the conduct of medical checks on the women regarding sanitary affairs and the prevention of venereal diseases.[11]
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