Japan

Citation:

Min, Pyong Gap. 2003. “Korean ‘Comfort Women’: The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class.” Gender & Society 17 (6): 938–57.

Author: Pyong Gap Min

Abstract:

During the Asian and Pacific War (1937-45), the Japanese government mobilized approximately 200,000 Asian women to military brothels to sexually serve Japanese soldiers. The majority of these victims were unmarried young women from Korea, Japan’s colony at that time. In the early 1990s, Korean feminist leaders helped more than 200 Korean survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery to come forward to tell the truth, which has further accelerated the redress movement for the women. One major issue in the redress movement and research relating to the so-called “comfort women” issue is whether Japan’s colonization of Korea or gender hierarchy was a more fundamental cause of the Korean women’s suffering. Using an intersectional perspective, this article analyzes how colonial power, gender hierarchy, and class were inseparably tied together to make the victims’ lives miserable. By doing so, it shows that a one-sided emphasis on colonization or gender hierarchy will misrepresent the feminist political issue and misinterpret the “comfort women’s” experiences.

Keywords: sexual violence against women, colonial power, gender, class

Topics: Armed Conflict, Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2003

Citation:

Askin, Kelly D. 2003. “Prosecuting Wartime Rape and Other Gender-Related Crimes Under International Law: Extraordinary Advances, Enduring Obstacles.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 21 (2): 288.

Author: Kelly D. Askin

Abstract:

Examines the changes in international law regarding sexual violence against women. Overview of the relevant customary and treaty law norms particularly within humanitarian law; Ways in which war increasingly is waged against the civilian population; Treatment of gender-related crimes in the post-World War II trials held in Nuremberg, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Asia, East Asia, Europe, Central Europe Countries: Germany, Japan

Year: 2003

Citation:

Chung, Chin-Sung. 1994. “Wartime State Violence against Women of Weak Nations: Military Sexual Slavery Enforced by Japan during World War II.” Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin 5 (2/3): 15–27.

Author: Chin-Sung Chung

Topics: Armed Conflict, Corruption, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 1994

Citation:

Joseph, Joshua. 2007. "Rethinking Yamashita: Holding Military Leaders Accountable for Wartime Rape." Women's Rights Law Reporter 28 (2/3): 107-25.

Author: Joshua Joesph

Abstract:

This note explores the current controversy over the proper international standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have committed rape, and examines the interplay between the nature of rape, the underlying theories of command responsibility, and an international legal system that has failed to produce fruitful results. The note contends that the continued occurrence of rape in times of war results in large part from the international community’s reluctance to punish high-level military officials who neither physically perpetrated the crime, were not present at the crime scene, and did not necessarily order rape.

The note proposes a slight expansion of the “knowledge presumption” standard used by early courts, whereby general, historical knowledge of rape would satisfy the mens rea requirement of command responsibility. Such a standard would make it easier to prosecute wartime military leaders. In addition, the note will propose a series of measures that military officials can use to both deter the commission of rape by subordinates and rebut the knowledge presumption. Finally, the note examines how the International Criminal Court could use such a standard to punish commanders for the atrocities currently under investigation in Darfur.

The note is particularly relevant and timely because widespread mass rape has been reported in the region of Darfur and is currently under investigation by ICC prosecutors. It is likely that the ICC will hear many of the cases involved in this dispute in the near future. Many of these cases will force the Court to examine its standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have engaged in rape crimes.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, Rwanda

Year: 2007

Citation:

Zimelis, Andris. 2009. "Human Rights, the Sex Industry and Foreign Troops: Feminist Analysis of Nationalism in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines." Cooperation and Conflict 44 (1): 51-71.

Author: Andris Zimelis

Abstract:

This article explores the relationship between prostitution, nationalism and foreign policies using a feminist analysis framework. Although scholars have dealt with the theoretical role of women in nationalist projects, there is little work factually supporting these theories. There is also a paucity of works demonstrating the role of prostitution in national security policies. This article rectifies these shortcomings and demonstrates that, although prostitution is illegal in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, these governments have played an active role in supporting and maintaining the prostitution industry geared at servicing US troops. The US troops, in turn, have protected the national security of each of these countries for all of the post-Second World War era. In this context, it seems clear that 'national security' does not include the physical, economic, legal and social insecurity of Japanese, Korean and Filipino women despite their contribution to the most quintessential Realist policy - national security. 

Keywords: nationalism, national interest, prostitution, human rights, sex industry, US troops, foreign policy

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Nationalism, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Japan, Philippines, South Korea

Year: 2009

Citation:

Watanabe, Kazuko. 1995. "Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military 'Comfort Women'." Peace & Change 20 (4): 501-14.

Author: Kazuko Watanabe

Keywords: military sexual assault, comfort women, sex trafficking, militaries

Annotation:

This essay “recounts the World Human Rights Conference held in Vienna in 1993 and other national and international conventions as well as activists' reports that exposed the long-suppressed story of the comfort women of World War II.” The author concludes that in order for the problem of trafficking of women in Asia (in particular Japan) to be fixed, women must take control by speaking out “to abolish the male-centered sexuality and culture that celebrates masculinity and the commodification of women’s bodies,” and that women need more opportunities for legitimate jobs and economic independence. 

Topics: Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Slavery, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 1995

Citation:

Lee, June JH. 2005. "Human Trafficking in East Asia: Current Trends, Data Collection, and Knowledge Gaps." International Migration 43 (1-2): 165-201.

Author: June JH Lee

Keywords: militarization, human trafficking, data collection, Filipina women

Annotation:

• The goal of this paper is to “examine the general trends in human trafficking reported in East Asia from rather disparate sources, identify the main issues and problems raised in the existing information sources, and discuss data collection, research activities, and knowledge gaps” (166).
• The link between trafficked Filipina women and the Rest and Recreations facilities of U.S. military bases in South Korea is discussed, and the author notes that the connection between the sex trade and militarization in South Korea is a recurrent theme in studies of the issue. 

Topics: Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: China, Japan, Philippines, South Korea

Year: 2005