[INTERVIEW] Dutch journalist keeps 'comfort women' issue alive

Griselda Molemans, center, participates in a demonstration held at Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2019, to call for justice and war reparations for "comfort women," or women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial regime during World War II, in the former Dutch East Indies. Courtesy of Griselda Molemans

Besides Koreans, women from 35 other countries were victimized in Japan's wartime sex slavery, says Griselda Molemans

By Lee Yeon-woo

The Statue of Peace was first unveiled in 2011 in front of the Japanese Embassy in Korea. Symbolizing victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II, the statue features a young Korean girl in traditional Korean attire or hanbok. Its presence in front of the Japanese Embassy in Korea shows how the tragic wartime history still haunts the nation as countless young girls were victimized and forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese soldiers.

The statue has taken various forms and has been set up in other parts of the world, such as Germany, the U.S. and the Philippines. The campaign to build the Statue of Peace was led by civic groups in Korea in collaboration with the Korean community overseas.

The movement caught the attention of Dutch journalist Griselda Molemans.

During her visit to Korea on Oct. 19, she announced that another Statue of Peace will be set up in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. "The city council has approved my plan, and is currently searching for a location for the monument," she said.

Molemans has spent two decades researching the truth behind the wartime sex slavery.

"Four years ago, I submitted a plan to the city government. I started writing an introduction (about the 'comfort women'). Look, this is what happened … There are so many, thousands of women who are invisible (in the Netherlands too)," Molemans told The Korea Times in a recent video interview.

Griselda Molemans joins the weekly Wednesday demonstration for the "comfort women" held in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Oct. 19, during her latest visit to Korea. Her sign reads, "Gender equality completes democracy!" She announced that another Statue of Peace will be built in Amsterdam at this demonstration. Newsis

She is planning to build what she calls an "iconography" consisting of seven women who symbolize the victims' various races. "I can't say when the actual revealing of the monument will take place, but I just hope we can make some progress for the next few months."

Molemans first heard about the "comfort women" when Kim Hak-sun testified that she was a victim of Japan's sexual slavery and sued the Japanese government for the first time in 1991.

About a year later, Jan Ruff-O'Herne, born to a Dutch family in the Dutch East Indies, stepped forward too and publicly disclosed the rapes and violence at the Japanese military's so-called "comfort facilities." She was the first white European woman to do so.

Ruff-O'Herne received worldwide attention as many had believed that most of the women victimized by imperial Japan were Asian, Molemans said. Being pressed to investigate the situation by the public, the Dutch government rushed to release a report which found that "200 to 300 Dutch women" worked in military brothels in Dutch East Indies, and "65 were most certainly forced into prostitution."

However, she realized something was wrong with the data while writing her book, titled "Daughters of the Archipelago," a few years later. She had then approached women who grew up in the Dutch East Indies, which is now Indonesia, and interviewed them about their lives in the colony. When she asked what their lives were like during the Japanese occupation in World War II, their answers were more than shocking.

"They said, 'When we were young girls, we were warned by our parents and grandparents that if you see Japanese troops approaching the village, run. Run to the woods. Come to my house and I'll hide you,'" she said.

"I thought there was something so wrong with the report. I decided, okay, then I will continue (trying to find out the truth)," she continued.

The cover of the book, "A Lifetime of War," by Griselda Molemans. Courtesy of Griselda Molemans

So she started researching the issue. She tracked documents preserved by the Allied powers and associated or neutral nations during World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Portugal and others. It took her 15 years to get access to those documents and retrieve the information. The relevant documents in the Netherlands have been sealed until 2028, but she managed to get access to 95 percent of the documents thanks to lawyers assisted by the journalist union.

Based on the documents, she wrote and published her book, "A Lifetime of War," in 2020.

"Contrary to the narrative that there were as many as 200,000 'comfort women,' of whom the majority was Korean, evidence is presented that at least 500,000 young women from 35 countries, city-states and autonomous regions were victimized," she said.

She added that the allied nations "knew the truth" but chose to "stay silent" for political reasons.

However, the journey was not easy. As a fellow journalist wrote in an article introducing the book, the then Japanese ambassador came to their newsroom to accuse Molemans of having used fake documents. He brought a number of documents claiming that he could prove that Molemans' findings had been doctored. "The simple fact that the ambassador shows up at a Dutch newsroom is insane. But they're playing hard. And they keep playing it hard."

"So it was so wonderful to come to Seoul, to talk to colleagues and many people. You may think that you're fighting this against Japan on your own, but you need to know that there are so many more countries," she said.

Griselda Molemans visits Lee Yong-soo's house in Daegu, Oct. 17. Courtesy of Griselda Molemans

Molemans also met Lee Yong-soo, a survivor of Japan's wartime sexual slavery and a human rights activist. During lunch, Lee said to Molemans that she always feels sad when a younger person interested in her experiences comes to her house, because that might be her first and last time to meet them. Her words hit Molemans hard.

"We're running out of time. There are hardly any women alive right now ― just a small group in Korea, a few Lolas ― you know, grandmothers ― in the Philippines. And there are a few Dutch and Indonesian women alive," she said.

She said that's her motivation to keep continuing the work, dealing with the injustice. "It's unforgivable that there will be a day when there is no witness alive anymore … Realizing you're not alone in this is important. We collaborate and spread the word together to make Japan apologize."