The cross-national solidarity efforts by the survivors of the Japanese military's wartime sexual violence: New issues and challenges

The media coverage about the so-called “comfort women” in the United States has given the impression that survivors were, by and large, Koreans. However, survivors also include those from many other Asian nations, such as Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, along with women from the Netherlands. Since as early as 1992, these survivors from various nations with the help of their support groups have been fighting together to gain redress from the Japanese government.

In December, 2015, with strong pressures from the United States government, the governments of South Korea and Japan reached a hasty, regrettable agreement, ignoring wishes and concerns of the survivors. The ways that Japan discusses its responsibility and that it intends to issue apologies and to ascertain the facts of atrocities are all problematic. What does not makes sense, moreover, is that this resolution of the “comfort women” issue has been sought with the understanding that this issue was a political and diplomatic problem only between South Korea and Japan. Even in the event that this agreement would be made effective, the “comfort women” issue is not resolved for survivors from other countries.

 In this presentation, I discuss the history of the cross-national co-operation of survivors in different nations (1992-present), the new problems that emerged after the December 2015 agreement between South Korea and Japan, and major challenges for the record preservation and education regarding the issue of wartime sexual violence concerning survivors not only from South Korea, but also from other nations.