The Truth about the Question of “Comfort Women”

Summary

The Truth about the Question of “Comfort Women”
It is amazing, but perhaps not so surprising, that an alleged wrong from over 60 years ago
should be used to this very day as a weapon to extort moral and economic largesse. The
so-called comfort women are the latest “victims” of Japanese war-time “aggression” to
do just that. It is also not surprising that the real story behind these so-called comfort
women is never heard and, thus, the Japanese people reflexively bow down to their
demands.
United States Army records from the war clearly stated that these women were out to
make money. Of course, the phenomenon of prostitutes servicing soldiers is not new and
it should not be surprising that the Japanese military supervised brothels, as the Allies
made use of them as well. The Soviets did not have supervised brothels — instead
soldiers on the Eastern European front were fully encouraged to rape German women.
(This is one Allied wartime atrocity that will never be featured on the evening TV news.)
With the establishment of South Korea, the government did not feel the need to raise the
issue with Japan until, oddly, leftist Japanese brought up the allegations. Even though the
issue has been a contentious sticking point between the two countries, it is one that is
entirely based in fiction.
One of the key publications that sparked the controversy was Mr. Seiji Yoshida’s book
“My War Crimes”. He claimed that during the war, he was ordered by the military to
kidnap Korean women for use as “comfort women.” Several years later, a local Korean
newspaper tried to verify Mr. Yoshida’s allegations, but was absolutely unable to do so.
Later, leading Japanese newspapers printed moving yet totally unverifiable stories of
“comfort women” survivors. The South Koreans got on the bandwagon following the
“admissions” of the Japanese press. Again, despite the stories of “forced work” comfort
women being fabrications, the gullible public swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker.
The U.N. got into the act and a report admonished Japan’s despicable war-time abuse of
comfort women. However, the report was based on a book written by an Australian
journalist, who collected materials from a Korean woman living in Japan. The fact that
the journalist could not speak any Korean and that the book contained numerous factual
errors suggested an absence of fact-checking prior to its publication. Despite such
inconvenience, the psychological impact on the Japanese people was nonetheless
effective.
The Japanese, particularly susceptible to any accusation that they were not repentant
enough for their “numerous war-time wrongs,” reflexively showed contrition. When the
“comfort women” allegations began to boil over during the 1990’s, the Japanese
government feebly tried to take the middle road. On one hand, it could have plainly and
emphatically stated that the allegations that the Japanese military enslaving women to
serve as sex slaves were entirely without merit. On the other hand, the government could
have given the charges the classic Japanese stony-silent treatment. Incredibly, the
government issued a statement that “regretted” the war time action of taking of women
for use as comfort women. Such weakness on the part of the government further
encouraged “comfort women” groups and their activists; to this day are still trying to pry
an official “apology” and “victim status,” which will inevitably lead to compensation.