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Korean "Comfort Women"
Military Brothels, Brutality, and the Redress Movement
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Pyong Gap Min
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2021
About this book
Arguably the most brutal crime committed by the Japanese military during the Asia-Pacific war was the forced mobilization of 50,000 to 200,000 Asian women to military brothels to sexually serve Japanese soldiers. The majority of these women died, unable to survive the ordeal. Those survivors who came back home kept silent about their brutal experiences for about fifty years. In the late 1980s, the women’s movement in South Korea helped start the redress movement for the victims, encouraging many survivors to come forward to tell what happened to them. With these testimonies, the redress movement gained strong support from the UN, the United States, and other Western countries.
Korean “Comfort Women” synthesizes the previous major findings about Japanese military sexual slavery and legal recommendations, and provides new findings about the issues “comfort women” faced for an English-language audience. It also examines the transnational redress movement, revealing that the Japanese government has tried to conceal the crime of sexual slavery and to resolve the women’s human rights issue with diplomacy and economic power.
Korean “Comfort Women” synthesizes the previous major findings about Japanese military sexual slavery and legal recommendations, and provides new findings about the issues “comfort women” faced for an English-language audience. It also examines the transnational redress movement, revealing that the Japanese government has tried to conceal the crime of sexual slavery and to resolve the women’s human rights issue with diplomacy and economic power.
Author / Editor information
PYONG GAP MIN is a distinguished professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, as well as the director of the Research Center for Korean Community. He is the author of five books and the editor or co-editor of fourteen books, including the award-winning Caught in the Middle: Korean Communities in New York and Los Angeles and Preserving Ethnicity through Religion in America: Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus across Generations.
Reviews
"This book provides the most complete account yet of the historical situation of Korean 'comfort women' and of current efforts to seek redress for the survivors. Drawing upon a vast trove of first-person evidence and displaying a rigorous commitment to factual evidence, the author creates an invaluable record of past war crimes and present-day activism."
— Margaret D. Stetz, author of Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II"Korean “Comfort Women” comprehensively clarifies the role of international movements with historical accuracy and a sincere commitment to holding Japan responsible for its actions. Moreover, this book provides a detailed description of the histories and politics of the past and present as it asks readers how redress of the comfort women issue can be achieved from the perspectives of politics and justice."
— MobilizationTopics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
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Abbreviations
vii -
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Chronology
ix -
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Introduction: Background Information about Japanese Military Sexual Slavery and the Redress Movement for the Victims
1 -
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Chapter 1 Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks
19 -
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Chapter 2 Enough Information, but the Issue Was Buried for Half a Century
32 -
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Chapter 3 The Emergence of the “Comfort Women” Issue and Victims’ Breaking Silence
48 -
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Chapter 4 General Information about the “Comfort Women” System
69 -
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Chapter 5 Forced Mobilization of “Comfort Women”
86 -
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Chapter 6 Payments of Fees and Affectionate Relationships
107 -
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Chapter 7 Sexual Exploitation, Violence, and Threats at “Comfort Stations”
125 -
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Chapter 8 The Perils of Korean “Comfort Women’s” Homecoming Trips
145 -
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Chapter 9 Korean “Comfort Women’s” Lives in Korea and China
161 -
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Chapter 10 Progress of the Redress Movement in Korea
183 -
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Chapter 11 Divided Responses to the Redress Movement in Japan
206 -
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Chapter 12 Responses to the Redress Movement in the United States
232 -
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Conclusion
255 -
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Acknowledgments
267 -
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Notes
271 -
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References
275 -
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Index
293 -
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About the Author
301
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 5, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9781978815001
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978815001
Keywords for this book
Japanese military sexual slavery; hidden war crimes; military sexual exploitation; Sexual Slavery; Crimes against Humanity; Brutality; sexual violence in war; comfort women; Crimes of Aggression; wartime human rights violations; Ethnic Cleansing; Torture; Holocaust; World War II war crimes; Gender Role; Immigrants; sexual slavery survivors; Asia-Pacific War atrocities; South Korea women’s movement; WWII crimes against women; Politics; Korean women in WWII; Armed Conflicts; Gender inequality; comfort women reparations; Movements; Political Violence; Japan; Victims; War crimes; Collective Violence; Redress Movement; Exploitation; Intersectionality; Genocide; Conflict Resolution; women’s testimonies WWII; survivor-led activism; Human Rights; brothels; Military; feminist redress movement; postwar justice efforts; war and women’s rights; UN support for survivors; transnational redress movement; human rights and diplomacy; Korean comfort women activism; Japanese imperial army; Atrocities; Japan wartime accountability; U.S.; Korea; military brothels
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
