Four young Korean women, Ok-dong, Sun-hee, Keum-soon and Bo-bae, find themselves in a military barracks far from home in the midst of the Pacific War, also known as World War II. They are the main characters in the stage production “Flower Petals,” recently played at Byeol Orum theater in the Korea National Theater Complex in Seoul.

Directed by Lee Kang-seon, the show is scheduled to go on stage in Hanam Cultural Art Center in May, and in Guro Art Valley Theater in August. 

Based on the award-winning play “Hotel Splendid” by American playwright and poet Lavonne Mueller, the play deals with untold stories of Korean women who were conscripted to serve the imperial Japanese military as sex slaves and the hell they endured in the jungles of Southeast Asia. More than the cruelties associated with sex slavery, the play is about women struggling with their own inner beings, the transformation of the self while traversing from innocence to the harsh realities of the war.

Through a montage of scenes involving these women ranging from a premenstrual girl of 11 years old (Sun-hee) to a mother (Ok-dong), “Flower Petals” attempts and succeeds in showing human conditions under duress, their spiritual space invaded by way of rape 20 times or more, that is, in one day.

This sort of abuse of humanity is hard to imagine for an average person in 2015, and even for Ok-dong, who views her own life as unreal. She recalls and hangs on to those intimate moments with her husband back home when he was alive. She tells Sun-hee that someday when the war is over, she will meet a nice man whom she will want to share intimate moments with. Sun-hee does not believe her; she cannot imagine that “that” could be tender and wonderful. 

While Ok-dong perceives her life of a sexual slave in the barracks as a temporary condition, Keum-soon is frantic to escape from the present. Keum-soon urges everyone to escape together, but they are afraid of what would happen to them if they are caught. Keum-soon eventually escapes alone.

There are some who claim that sex slavery did not happen during the war. They say that the women were willing prostitutes who were compensated in exchange for their sexual services, a commercial arrangement rather than a forced conscription. Brothels in military bases are a commonly accepted practice in time of war, they say.

The women testify otherwise. Sun-hee tells us that soldiers dragged her to the truck her mother was already on. She held her mother’s warm hand and leaned against her, until they were separated. Keum-soon talks about her grandfather who was slain while trying to protect her from the soldiers who rolled into her village to forcibly round up young girls. Bo-bae, years later, recalls that their bodies were mere military supply items, like guns and swords distributed to the soldiers in battlefields.

All in all, Keum-soon, Ok-dong, Sun-hee and Bo-bae represent just four of 200,000 stories that took place over the period of 13 years of offensive campaign the imperial Japanese military waged in Asia. One only needs to study the historical records to see that the Japanese army was the primary organizer of the slavery system.

By John Cha
 
John Cha lives and writes in Oakland, California. He has written books on Korean and U.S. leaders, including Susan Ahn Cuddy, Young Paik, Hwang Jang-yop and Kim Hyang-soo. Cha is an award-winning translator of Korean literature into English. ― Ed.