Falling Kono Statement - culprit of the comfort women myth

As you may know, Kono statement of 1993 is regarded as the evidence, and the official affirmation, that Japan committed the atrocity of making massive number of women as sex slaves. 

I do not blame those who believe in this – it is totally the fault of the Japanese government who has been silent, irresponsible, and coward in not stating known facts on the sensitive issue. But one should know what Kono statement really is and how it came about.

[The following is the rough English translation of the Sankei scoop on this]

The Kono statement was made based on the 5-day hearing investigation of 16 former so-called comfort women in 1993; however, the interview report was long undisclosed. 

On October 15, 2013, Sankei Shimbun finally obtained the interview report. In the report, the factual information was obscure, and different from what the women said in other occasions. Some names and date of birth were inaccurate. Although proper family registration system existed in the Korean peninsula at the time, only 8 comfort women indicated their date of birth, while 6 left it blank. 13 women left their hometown “unknown” though in Korea, the hometown is an important indication for an individual.

Some names indicated only family name, or were insufficiently written, without proper Kanji. Furthermore, some women testified that they worked in Osaka, Kumamoto, and Taiwan, i.e. non battle zones where comfort stations did not exist, though ordinary brothels existed. 5 comfort women who sued the Japanese government in 1991 were included as interviewees, but their testimonies differed from what they said in other occasions.

Before this interview took place, then Korean Professor Ahn Byung-jik of Seoul National University and his group conducted hearing investigation with 40 comfort women in 1992. The group met and interviewed the women 5-6 times, and stated in its report that “the cases that presented the most serious problems to the researchers were those in which the witnesses seemed to be intentionally distorting the facts”, and thus adopted only 19 of them in the report.

pp.36-43 is relevant to Prof. Anh's research --> http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/39_S4.pdf

It is highly probable that the hearing investigation of the government included those who were dismissed in the Korean investigation, but the government has not done any cross-checking or confirmation.

Former Deputy Cabinet Secretary Ishihara Nobuo, who was involved in the making of the Kono statement, was interviewed by Sankei, and said:

 “I did not look at the report, and I made judgment based on the briefing by the officer in charge. However, if the content of the interview report, which was the foundation of the Kono statement, is sloppy and lacks credibility, then it is a grave problem. The Korean government selected the 16 comfort women, thus the trust would be shaken.”

Kono Statement: In August 1993, then Cabinet Secretary Kono Yohei, under Miyazawa Kiichi administration, expressed remorse and apology for former comfort women. Despite the fact that no government record was found, in and outside Japan, to prove abduction of women in recruitment, the statement confirmed forced recruitment, indicating that "in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments." There is no cabinet approval for the statement.

 

Click here for Sankei scoop on Oct 16, 2013, in Japanese 

**********************

The Korean government opposes to re-examination of the process of how the investigation with the comfort women was done for making the Kono statement. If there is nothing to hide, they should be glad to re-examine the process to prove their credibility.
 

Korean sex industry going global

The fight on comfort women issue is getting heated. Koreans keep spreading lies around the world, and informed Japanese are standing up to counter the lies with historical evidence. It is high time that people see the facts about the issue. In fact, people should see not only the facts back then, but also the reality on Korean sex industry today, and think about the issue in entirety.
 
I translate below an article by Otaka Miki, published on August 18, 2013 on ZakZak (Sankei digital inc.), which gives you details and excellent insights on this.

**********************************

Appalling reality of Korean “sex-industry export”: 100,000 Korean prostitutes around the world 

The reality of South Korea as “the big sex-industry exporting country” is attracting attention. Korean media reports that there are 100,000 Korean prostitutes around the world, and they represent the highest percentage of foreign prostitutes in the United States. Korean President Park Geun Hye criticizes Japan that “Japan should have courage to look straight into the past,” and “Japan should take responsible and sincere measures”; yet, it is Korea that should review the history and the reality.

In July 2013, a statue of comfort woman was installed in city of Glendale, California. This was backed up by Korean groups in the U.S., and the groups have a plan to install the same in over 20 cities across the country. The nationalistic passion to fabricate history and disgrace another country is itself a theme in the field of psychiatric medicine, and it would be too kind to see it as “rancor against 36 years of Japanese administration”. 

An article that greatly helps one understand the comfort women issue was published in Chosun Ilbo (Korean newspaper) on June 15, 2012: “Expanding Korean-style sex industry: the reality overseas” – “The shameful reality of Korea as the great sex-industry exporting country”. The content of the article was appalling. 

First of all, the article says: “With regard to Korean prostitutes abroad, national assembly member Kim Ok Lee, during the assembly audit on the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in October 2010, asserted that `the numbers of Korean women who engage in prostitution overseas are approximately 50,000 in Japan, 2,500 in Australia, and 250 in Guam, reaching over 100,000 globally.’”

The article analyzes that one of the reasons for overseas prostitution is money: “10 Korean prostitutes captured by police at a brothel in Canada in May 2012 said ‘We came here because we heard that we could earn a lot in a short time’. A 36-year old female manager of the brothel always told the prostitutes that they could earn 20 million won (about US$ 18,700) in one month.” 

The article also shows the ratio of foreign prostitutes in the U.S., and the top three are Korean 23.5%, Thai 11.7%, and Peruvian 10%. Since the domestic prostitution prohibition law was strengthened in Korea in 2004, and traveling to the U.S. without visa was allowed in 2008, Korean prostitutes have flown out at once. 

On the other hand, in Korea, several hundreds of prostitutes in white shroud with their faces painted white demonstrated on the street, shouting “let us work!”, which was broadcasted over internet to the world. 

They claim at the constitutional court, “we are sex workers, and workers have the right to work. It is against the constitution that a law intervenes in private acts of adult men and women”, and deliberation is ongoing at the court. 

According to the survey done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2007, the size of adult-entertaining industry in Korea is estimated to be about 14.1 trillion won (approx. US$ 13.2 billion), and there are about 270,000 women working in sex-related business. This is equivalent to approximately 6% of the national budget of the year (239 trillion won, or US$ 223 billion), according to the Chosun Ilbo. 

There are so many Korean women who want to work in the sex industry even today (when prostitution is illegal). Thinking calmly, anybody would see that there was no need to use a rough measure to “forcefully take away” women 70 years ago when prostitution was legal. Weren’t comfort women commercial sex workers in wartime? 

Today, in China near the border with North Korea, there are tens of thousands of North Korean female defectors who are sold by Chinese dealers to prostitution businesses or poor farmhouses, and are forced into “sexual slavery.” Yet, we never hear about “rancor against 1000 years of dependency on China and tribute of beautiful women.” (note: Korea had been a tributary state to China most of the time in its history, and had been paying tribute to China including women).   

When South Korea took part in the Vietnam War, the number of Lai Dai Han, or children born to Korean soldiers and Vietnamese women, was estimated to be 10,000 – 30,000. They are severely discriminated against as “children of enemy”; however, Korean government has not taken any measures. Instead of promoting anti-Japan propaganda, wouldn’t solving this problem be far more humanitarian? 

Sam Keen, former editor of US bimonthly magazine “Psychology Today”, states in his book “Faces of the Enemy” as follows: “by forcing on others all the characteristics that one has inside and does not want to admit, s/he reduces anxiety and guilt.”

Anyhow, Korea enthuses to install comfort women statues in other countries besides the United States. Before that, why not add a plaque to the statue with the following explanation? :

“This is to attest the Korean government that has been blaming another country for its deteriorated culture, and the sad history of the Korean peninsula where women have been sold since the ancient times.”    
    
(Otaka Miki is a journalist who have interviewed many renowned persons including Dalai Lama and 14^th and former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, and have published several books).

Japanese and Koreans: we fought together in the war

I received the following comment on the previous posting "Japanese war crimes: I'm sorry? by Adrian Salbuchi" (thanks a lot for commenting). I felt that it was again somehow based on the common misunderstanding on "what Japan did to Korea", to which I wanted to clarify a few issues in response. I of course cannot comment anything on individual experiences, but would like to describe the overall picture.

Comment received: 

"To rest of the world, those in shrine are war criminals because Japan lost the World War II. But to many Koreans, they are war criminals because they killed their own grand parents, destroyed life of many and tried to deny existence of Koreans by destroying their cultural and historical elements. Talk to any Koreans if you know any. Ask them if they think they have won World War II against Japan. I can assure you none of them will say yes. To Koreans, it is not about whether they have won the war or not. I have Korean grandmother who passed away last year at age 98. I remember hearing from her about what Japanese did to Koreans. To many Koreans, what Abe Shinzo did is equivalent of Angela Merkel putting flowers in Adolf Hitler's grave. Regardless of how many times the apologies were given in the past, it's going to hurt many Koreans and the reaction of Koreans are only natural."

Japanese and Koreans fought together against the allies in the WWII, because Korea had been annexed by Japan since 1910 and Koreans were treated as Japanese. Unlike the West who only exploited people and resources in their colonies, Japan developed Korea and improved the welfare of people dramatically. These advancements occurred in all spheres including education, health, economy, safety, judicial system, infrastructure and local administration, benefits of which were enjoyed by Koreans both in urban and rural areas. Keijo (Seoul) became more modern than Tokyo, which itself is an incredible fact. Up to the annexation, due to the misrule of the Yi Dynasty, general people in Korea were extremely poor, subject to exploitation and mistreatment in the authoritarian system, with no proper basic services. This is clearly documented by a British scholar Alleyne Ireland, the then authority on colonial administration, who analyzed the Japanese administration in Korea and published “The New Korea” in 1926 after 3 years of field research (available at Amazon.co.jp).

You mention that Japanese destroyed Korean culture, but it was the Yi Dynasty who destroyed the good of Korea and made Korean people suffer. Alleyne writes as follows:

“I met many Japanese who were eager to enlarge upon the admirable features of the early Korean culture and to express their appreciation of the contribution which Koreans had made to the art, religion, and philosophy of Japan itself, in the centuries preceding the accession of the Yi Dynasty, which after more than five hundred years of misrule had reduced the Korean people to a cultural and economic condition deplorable in the extreme, and which came to an end when Japan annexed the country in 1910” (p.72-73).

You should also know that Koreans wanted to fight together with Japanese against the allies during the WWII. Some Koreans played active part in the Japanese army as senior military officers, such as 洪思翊, 金錫源, and 朴正熙 (Park Chung-hee, subsequent President of Korea and the father of the current Korean President Park Geun-hye 朴槿惠). Stimulated by their bravery and success, over 300,000 young Koreans voluntarily responded to the call for voluntary services with the Japanese army in 1943, which only had 6,300 seats. Several hundreds of them wrote their plea in their blood, which surprised the Government-General of Japan in Seoul. This fact proves that Japanese administration in Korea was going extremely well and it gained trust of Koreans. Korean soldiers who fought along with the Japanese army totaled 240,000, out of which 21,000 died on the battleground and are enshrined at Yasukuni. Japanese soldiers who died in the WWII were 2,300,000 in total.

Unfortunately, none of these facts are taught in Korea due to extreme anti-Japanese education that it has been promoting for the past decades. This only creates hatred among Koreans, makes them blind, depriving them of facing their own history. Koreans should realize that Japanese Prime Minister visiting  Yasukuni has nothing to hurt their feelings. Japanese and Koreans stood up and fought together to defend the united countries from the dominant White supremacy back then. It was a difficult choice for Korea, but all things considered, the annexation played a critical role in the history of Korea and its people for better.

"Japanese war crimes: I'm sorry?" by Adrian Salbuchi

The following is an article by Adrian Salbuchi, a political analyst, author, speaker and radio / TV commentator in Argentina (click here for the link on RT), which is very well written and I'd just like to paste the whole thing below:

Japanese war crimes: I’m sorry?

Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina.

Get short URL

Published time: December 27, 2013 12:24

: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo on December 26, 2013, in a move Beijing condemned as "absolutely unacceptable". (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)

Share on tumblr

China and South Korea are very angry with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe because he visited the Yosukuni Shrine in Tokyo honoring some 2.5 million Japanese – both military and civilian – who died in war.

Many are irate with Mr Abe because, amongst those honored in the 19th Century Yosukuni Shrine, are Japanese World War II heroes, branded as “war criminals” by US occupation forces. The list numbers fourteen “Class-A criminals” involved in “planning the war”, including war-time leader General Hideki Tojo executed by the US in 1948. 

Official history

Sad but true: when a country wins a war, not only does it automatically acquire full territorial rights over the vanquished nation, but also full and arbitrary control over cities, land, population, resources, plants, patents, military gear, international rights, etc.

It also acquires the “right” to (re)write the history of the conflict that led them to war in the first place. It acquires the right to impose its own views and reasons as “the truth”, accusing the vanquished country of being “false, evil, wrong, criminal, ambitious,” etc.

It’s as old as mankind: “we’re the good guys; the others are the bad guys.” “Our boys are heroes; the others are devils that deserve to be killed, right down to the last 2-year old toddler.” As 70 years of post-World War Two propaganda has clearly shown, the 20th and 21st centuries are no different.

Japan sticks to its guns

Yes, and they should be admired for that. Compare this to ever self-effacing Germany asking for the world’s forgiveness again and again and again, even though she knows quite well that no matter how many apologies are made, those who run today’s world call the shots in the media, publishing houses and education, will never ever forgive Germany.

Rather than commit historical hara-kiri as the Germans do, Japan prefers to keep a stiff upper lip, stand tall and continue to bear the consequences of military defeat, without descending into moral defeat.

Sure, the Allied Victor’s International Military Tribunal for the East – a Nuremberg-like court aka the“Tokyo Trials” – branded many of Japan’s top military and political leaders “Class A” criminals. However, as far back as in October 2006, Mr Abe’s ideas were voiced in The Japan Times: “[The] 14 Class-A war criminals honored at Yasukuni Shrine are not war criminals under Japanese law, but the country had to accept the outcome of the Tokyo Tribunal to become an independent nation. Abe told the Lower House that because the relatives of the convicted men receive war pensions and one of them - wartime Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu - received a first class award from the post-war government, "they are not war criminals under domestic laws." The International Military Tribunal, which the Allies conducted between May 1946 and November 1948, put 28 political and military leaders on trial as Class-A war criminals, 14 of whom are now enshrined in Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. Abe said they stood trial for crimes against peace and humanity, which were concepts, created by the allies after the war and not enshrined in law.”

Bravo, Japan! If we sincerely wish to punish the war crimes committed by all countries – winners and losers - then we would need a heck of a large International Military and Political Tribunal, free of double-standards and censorship.
Double standards (again!)

Talk about “war crimes” what are we to make, for example, of Britain’s World War II Royal Air Force Commander Arthur Harris (aka, “Bomber Harris” and “Butcher Harris”) who invented and imposed “area bombing” over precision bombing, euphemistically calling it “strategic bombing”; which was just another way of saying, if “it moves on enemy territory just bomb it out of existence!”

Bomber Harris was very successful in unleashing fire storms over Hamburg, Germany in July 1943 (“Operation Gomorrah”) that were later repeated over all major German cites. In Harris’s own words,“the aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive...should be unambiguously stated [as] the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilized life throughout Germany. ... the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories.”

Wow! Was Bomber Harris ever tried and executed for his crimes?

Not quite. Instead, in 1992 Britain’s Queen Mother personally unveiled a statue honoring him outside St. Clement Danes’ Church in London, whilst many protesters jeered shouting: "Harris was a war criminal!”

South Korean conservative activists burn placards during a protest to lodge a complaint against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting the Yasukuni war shrine to mark the first anniversary of his taking office, in Seoul on December 27, 2013. (AFP Photo/Woohae Cho)

The historical truth is that hundreds of thousands of German men, women and children – civilian and military – died or were maimed for life thanks to Bomber Harris’s creative thinking.

And what about “democratic” politicians like US Franklin Roosevelt, Britain’s Winston Churchill and their military leaders who joined forces to destroy the German open city of Dresden in February 1945, when Germany’s defeat was only weeks away and that city had become a meeting point for hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees fleeing the fast-advancing Red Army?

On 13th February 1945, the UK sent a first wave of 244 RAF four-engine Lancaster heavy bombers, followed by a second wave of 529 bombers. The next day, the US dispatched over 300 B17 bombers over Dresden. An estimated 300,000 people – mostly civilians including tens of thousands of children – burned to death.

I know, I know… The US and UK had no choice but to murder millions in Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Munich, Hannover, Frankfurt, Cologne, Ulm, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the only way to end that ghastly war. They did it all in the name of “peace”, right? So, Germans and Japanese: don’t complain and say “Thank you” to the allies.

Interestingly, the destruction of Dresden began 24 hours after Roosevelt and Churchill ended their meeting with Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, in Yalta, where the coming post-war New World Order was beginning to be mapped out. Might the destruction of Dresden have been on the agenda?

OK. But that was back during World War Two.

South Korean conservative activists shout slogans during a protest to lodge a complaint against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting the Yasukuni war shrine to mark the first anniversary of his taking office, in Seoul on December 27, 2013. (AFP Photo/Woohae Cho)

Then what about the 1.5 million dead in Iraq since March 2003, after that martyred country was invaded, raped and destroyed by modern history’s worst liars: Baby Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Condoleeza Rice and their nice friends at the Project for a New American Century think-tank and AIPAC lobby, all based on the most blatant and obscene political lie ever told: “weapons of mass destruction” that were never there.

And what about, the complacent blood-thirsty “NATO Allies” with the UK’s poodle prime minister –“Tony BLIAR” as many call him in his own country – tagging along?

And what about the daily murder, humiliation, maiming and house demolitions by the “good” Israelis against the “bad” Palestinians? What, no “International Tribunals”?

The West’s logic is really very simple. So simple, that even George W. Bush and Barack Obama can act out their roles as required by the global power masters.

A guide to war for the modern political Tarzan

For the benefit of millions of Western readers, I’d like to briefly flesh out in “basic Tarzan” how this“logic” works in practice; just to make sure they don’t miss the point: when it comes to “good guys” and“bad guys”, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

This does not mean that Japan should not be more political and understand the bigger picture of its own interest in closing ranks with China and the region as was mentioned in a recent RT article.

Let’s face it, this is a sensitive issue. The Koreans said PM Abe’s visit to the shrine was a "deplorable" act; Beijing labeled the visit "absolutely unacceptable" and summoned Japan's ambassador. These two countries see the Yasukuni Shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism during and before World War Two, and it was they who suffered the full impact of the Japanese onslaught.

Shinzo Abe said, "It is not my intention at all to hurt the feelings of the Chinese and Korean people,"claiming his visit was an anti-war gesture. He convinced nobody.

He did, however, make it clear that his visit was in a private capacity, not representing the government. He believes the trials that convicted Japan's wartime leaders were "victors' justice". His own grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, served in the war cabinet and was arrested by the Americans on suspicion of being a Class-A war criminal, although he was later released without charge. Mr Abe is known to be a nationalist and a historical revisionist.

Which ‘history’: Yours or mine?

Revisionism: perhaps here lies the key to a better understanding amongst nations, if we can begin doing away with victors’ “official history” that hides, waters-down, justifies, explains and forgives its own horrendous crimes, whilst at the same time it underlines, over-emphasizes and demonizes the actions of its vanquished enemies. And it often adds two, or maybe even three zeroes here and there as part of its historical genocide cosmetic kit.

There’s certainly irrationality to it all when you consider that this state of affairs assumes as given, that every time there’s war, the good guys (us) always win, whilst the bad guys (them) always lose (otherwise “they” would be in charge, right?): whether it’s World War I, World War 2, Vietnam, Korea, the Middle East, Africa, Central Europe, Latin America…

South Korean conservative activists set fire to effigies of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a protest to lodge a complaint against Abe visiting the Yasukuni war shrine to mark the first anniversary of his taking office, in Seoul on December 27, 2013. (AFP Photo/Woohae Cho)

A concept almost impossible to sustain and swallow, especially since it’s obvious that all wars are won by the more powerful party in the conflict, which are those nations having the greatest fire-power to kill, maim, destroy, blow-up, murder, terrorize, bomb, shoot, torture, and have the will to do it without wavering.

If wars are won by the stronger, more violent side, where does that leave the victors morally? Do they win every war because they “love peace”? I don’t think so.

In addition, demonizing the enemy also serves to sooth one’s own conscious, dark fears and guilt. In order for the citizens of the US, UK or France to sleep tight at night, better for them not to grasp the horror their governments and military have unleashed upon millions of Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Palestinians, Koreans, Vietnamese, Latin Americans, Africans, Afghanis, Serbians, Pakistanis over the decades.

It’s so much easier to just say, “Oh, they’re all a bunch of Hitlers. The whole defeated lot got what they deserved: Saddam, Gadhafi, the Taliban, Chavez, Milosevic, Ho Chi Minh, Nasser, Peron etc…”

Now do you see why in some countries – Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, Canada – it’s even illegal to dare to utter revisionist views of certain historical events? They call such revisionism “hate literature”.

In my own native land of Argentina, back in 1982 a very good documentary was produced on the life and times of Evita Perón and her violently-ousted husband, President Juan Domingo Perón. He was the only true statesman that ever came to power in modern Argentina.

The lyrics of that film’s theme song repeated the following phrase (sorry, it rhymes in Spanish though not in English): “If history is written by those who win wars, that means that there’s another history – TRUE HISTORY – Let those who wish to hear, listen-up…”

Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina.www.asalbuchi.com.ar