Activist remembers WW II 'comfort women'
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Victims of military sexual slavery, activists and citizens gather in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Feb. 10 for the peaceful resolution of the World War II issue. / Yonhap
“Every Wednesday for 25 years” by Yoon Mee-hyang
By Kim Se-jeong
Yoon Mee-hyang’s book, “Every Wednesday for 25 Years ― A Story of the Bold Hope of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Survivors,” cannot be timelier.
It came almost a month after the foreign ministers of Korea and Japan announced an agreement on the issue of sexual slavery during World War II. Under the agreement on Dec. 28, Korea’s 46 known survivors of the atrocity will receive care funded by the Japanese government. On the other hand, the Korean government will also take action regarding a girl’s statue that was erected by protesters in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul that the Korean government said is considered a security threat to the embassy. The Korean government also agreed not to raise the issue on the international stage, as the two countries are understood to have resolved the matter “finally and irreversibly” under the agreement.
Yoon is a passionate activist who is on the frontline of the campaign to nullify the agreement. She has also been organizing for the past 25 years a weekly rally in front of the Japanese embassy for the peaceful resolution of the military sexual slavery issue.
The book, which was published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the famous weekly rally on Wednesday, touches briefly on the recently concluded agreement. And the 303-page book does remind readers of what victims, as well as activists like Yoon, have done about the tragedy. Also, it reminds readers of interesting facts and numbers about the issue and violence against women, which are timely in light of the renewed spotlight on the issue.
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238
― The number of Korean women who have come forward as sexual slavery victims so far. Among them, only 46 are still alive.
Dec. 14, 2011
― The date of the 1,000th weekly rally. On the same day, the girl’s statue was also erected at the rally site as a symbol of peace and of the victims’ plight. The statue was designed by two sculptors ― Kim Se-kyung and Kim Woon-seong.
Tomiichi Murayama
― The Japanese prime minister known for the Murayama Statement released in 1995. He became the prime minister in 1994, and his appointment was highly welcomed by Korea at the time because of his previous demand for Japan’s official apology and reparations for sexual slavery victims. As incumbent prime minister, however, he did not deliver any of what he had promised. Instead of apologizing and making reparations, Murayama established the Asian Women’s Fund, which aimed to provide compensation to the victims. The fund representatives met seven victims in Seoul in 1997 and forced them to accept the money, according to the book. Some received the money without their knowledge. In 2007, the fund announced that it had paid compensation to 258 women from Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Recreation and Amusement Association (RAA)
― The Japanese government established RAA in 1945 to provide prostitutes to U.S. troops remaining in Japan after World War II. Members of the RAA consisted of war orphans, unemployed women, widows and prostitutes. In a letter to the members, the Japanese government stated that the women needed to make sacrifices to protect Japan’s “pure blood.” In the book, Yoon lamented that the women’s dignity had to be ignored often by the state, and criticized the Japanese government. She also criticized the Korean government for doing the same thing in Korea for the U.S. troops.
Tay Vinh Massacre
― A series of massacres of unarmed Tay Vinh citizens in 1966 during the Vietnam War by the Korean Army that killed almost 1,200. Women were raped before being killed. According to Yoon, in 2000, the Korean commander-in-chief, surname Chae, said the Korean Army had considered recruiting prostitutes for the Korean troops during the war in an attempt to curb sexual violence against civilian women, but failed to implement it.
The publisher is Sai Planet, and copies are available in bookstores for 15,000 won.