The issue regarding the comfort women reached epic proportions in 1992 due to Yoshimi Yoshiaki. The Japanese historian made an announcement the brothel network of the 1930’s and 1940’s had been linked to the government of Japan. Accusations were made stating Japan had abducted thousands of women to be used as sex slaves then massacred after the war ended. Most of the victims were reported to be Korean. Numerous apologies were made by Japanese politicians and the press went wild. The Coomaraswamy Report was released by the United Nations reporting on the comfort women testimonies made in 1996. This issue of the south Korean comfort women seemed apparent yet South Korea is losing ground.
The reason for this is because the comfort women stories are not true. There were war crimes but no systemized forced abductions. There were considerably less than 200,000 Korean comfort women and a lot of them were not Korean. This is the fantasy of a work of fiction written in 1982 by the communist Yoshida Seiji. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper treated his book as factual. His points are continually recycled despite not referring to him by name. The second reason is when the issue is examined closely, other countries start to look bad. This includes South Korea. The inseparability of sex and war was researched by Magnus Hirschfeld. He found brothel traffic increased during the Great War due to combatant governments.
There was a notable difference during World War II because the garrisons were far apart and surrounded by hostility. The biggest brothel system was run by Americans. The military was able to locate their comfort stations far away from the enemy lines. The Japanese field commanders forbid patronization in an attempt to stop information leaks. The Japanese officials tried to stop the rapes by establishing comfort stations imitating the Western model. These women were recruited in Korea from pimps and madams. While the Japanese tried to stop wartime rape it was encouraged by other countries. The Soviet Union was the worst offender during World War II. When the war was over the troops engaged in a rape rampage.
Another factor in providing prostitutes was venereal disease. United States General Claire Chennault was the leader of the Flying Tigers. His troops were often disabled due to gonorrhea and syphilis. GI’s continued to visit the banned red light district reputed to have a 100 percent infection rate. Prostitutes were flown in from India until the General intervened. Comfort stations still existed after 1945. They were brought from the United States during the Korean war. This system received support from the South Korean government. In 1977 Park Chung-hee signed an order with the purpose of keeping the United States military in South Korea for the money.
Heinous war crimes were committed by South Korea. Vietnamese peasant women were raped and butchered by South Korean troops in 1966 and again in 1968. There was cruelty in World War II against the Allied POW’s and the Lai Dai Han legacy where South Korean soldiers fathered illegitimate children that were abandoned. The violence against women during war has a long history. There is much more to the Korean comfort women issues than shortsighted diplomacy. Comfort women statues are located not just in South Korea but in the United States as well. New statues have been placed in both Sydney and Manila. All these locations are key allies to the Americans. The People’s Republic of China is highly interested in destroying the allegiance between the Asian nations and America. The controversy of the South Korean comfort women is being used by the Chinese as a weapon to weaken the standing of Japan and destabilize the relations between Asia and the United States.