International Day of Remembrance for "Comfort women" – statement by the Young China Party

Source (中文)

Today is International Comfort Women Day of Remembrance. Thirty-three years ago, survivor Kim Hak-sun first exposed the sexual violence committed by the Japanese military during World War II. Her courage encouraged other victims to come forward, exposing the system of comfort women.

Comfort women, more accurately, military sex slaves, were women, many of whom were minors, who were forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during World War II. They were often recruited through deception or coercion, and many came from Japanese-occupied areas such as Korea, Taiwan, and parts of mainland China.

The comfort women system was not established to prevent soldiers from committing sexual violence, but to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, which was detrimental to the fighting ability of the army. According to documents from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, documents sent to the army by Japanese intelligence stated: “Using Chinese women as comfort women will alleviate the depression of the soldiers caused by the war, especially those defeated by the Chinese army on the battlefield. Occupying Chinese women will fuel the ambition to occupy China. We must recruit more Chinese women as comfort women to comfort our soldiers both mentally and physically and to build their confidence in inevitable victory.” This reveals that the comfort women system was not only used to satisfy the desires of the soldiers, but also to instill militaristic ideology in every Japanese soldier and suppress the national consciousness of occupied peoples, whether they were Chinese or Korean. Ironically, the Japanese army even raped women from Allied countries; A Dutch journalist reported that about 30 Nazi German women were harassed by Japanese soldiers stationed in Indonesia.

In addition to sexual exploitation, comfort women often served as kitchen helpers, laborers, and even as expendable “cannon fodder.” In some cases, the Japanese military executed comfort women to avoid war crimes trials. Survivors often suffered immense physical and psychological trauma after the war, which took years to heal. Unfortunately, due to Confucian cultural norms regarding chastity, victims were unable to seek help and were even discriminated against. For example, during the Cultural Revolution, comfort women were accused of collaborating and persecuted.

It is clear that the Japanese military’s oppression of China, Korea and Southeast Asia through the comfort women system is a historical fact; yet, in an era when transitional justice is popular, the Japanese government has been slow to apologize or acknowledge the harm the Japanese military has inflicted on neighboring regions. Our Party believes that Japan must face its historical problems; otherwise, it will be indirectly admitting that its militarism continues to exist, which is detrimental to peace and development in the Pacific region. Moreover, although our country now has friendly relations with Japan, the government should hold Japan accountable for its historical responsibilities. Holding Japan accountable does not mean creating hatred; the essence of transitional justice is to heal wounds through apologies and reparations.

Although the victims of that time are slowly disappearing, we must not forget history. Our party sincerely invites everyone to join in prayer for the victims or even to speak today, and to commemorate the damage that militarism and war have caused to people.