[Junior Herald]U.S. Congress enters debate over comfort women

Korea and other Asian countries have long been fighting with Japan over how the country accepts responsibility for "comfort women," a euphemistic term for Asian women who were forced to act as sex slaves for the Japanese military from the 1930s through World War II. Now, the U.S. government has entered the debate to seek recognition and compensation for the women.



A new resolution on the comfort women was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Mike Honda, a Japanese-American from California, Jan. 31. It demands the Japanese Prime Minister make a public apology on behalf of the Japanese government and accept "full historical responsibility" for the crimes.



"These women, whose experiences were unprecedented in cruelty and were officially commissioned by the Government of Japan, endured gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation, death, or eventual suicide and to this date, they have still not received justice from this tragedy," Rep. Honda said.



After the resolution was introduced, the U.S. Congress scheduled a hearing on comfort women to begin Feb. 15. During the hearing, U.S. representatives will hear testimony from some of the South Korean women who were forced to work as sex slaves for the Japanese military.



It has been historically documented in Japan and elsewhere that before and during World War II, the Japanese government established many military brothels. While the government initially tried to hire prostitutes from within Japan, they soon decided more women were needed.



With this goal in mind, women from China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and especially Korea were often tricked or forced into becoming sex slaves. Most estimates put the number of comfort women as high as 200,000, 80 percent of whom are thought to be Koreans, making this "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century," according to the resolution.



Due to the brutality the women suffered, it is believed that only 30 percent survived WWII and that of the women remaining, many have been hesitant to come forward. It wasn`t until 1991 that a class action suit was filed against Japan by a former Korean comfort woman, and soon after by survivors from the Philippines and China. Japan`s prime minister responded by apologizing and establishing a private group called the Asian Women`s Fund to give money to the surviving victims.



Despite these actions, most people believe that Japan has not done enough. While the prime minister apologized, his statement was not seen as representing the Japanese government and does not admit legal responsibility for the wrongdoing. Further, recent textbooks published in Japan play down the country`s role in the abuse. Consequently, many of the former comfort women have refused to take money from the AWF until the Japanese government expresses clear accountability for what it has done.



During the last U.S. Congress, a similar resolution was introduced but never made it to the floor, some say because of Japanese lobbyists who pressured former Republican House Speaker Tom Foley to dismiss the bill. It is likely that this new resolution will pass, however, since the current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as well as the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee strongly support the measure.



"The purpose of this resolution is not to bash or humiliate Japan," Rep. Honda said Jan. 31. "This is about achieving justice for the few remaining women who survived this atrocity. We must recognize this grave human rights violation, which has remained unknown for so many years."



By Victoria Cook (vcook@heraldm.com)