Nishioka Tsutomu (西岡 力) was
born in 1956 in Tokyo. He earned his undergraduate degree at ICU (International
Christian University), and a master’s degree in international studies at
Tsukuba University’s Department of Regional Studies. Mr. Nishioka continued his
studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Between 1982 and 1984, he
served the Foreign Ministry as research specialist at the Japanese Embassy in
Seoul. He was editor-in-chief of the monthly Gendai Koria (Modern Korea) from
1990 to 2002. Mr. Nishioka is currently a professor at Tokyo Christian
University. He is deputy chairman of the National Council for the Rescue of
Japanese Abducted by North Korea. Among his many publications are The Mountain
of Misconceptions Separating Japan and Korea (issued by Aki Shobo), Penetrating
the Darkness: Understanding North Korean Abductions, Starvation, Comfort Women
and Anti-Japanese Movements (Tokuma Bunko), Starvation and Missiles: North
Korea’s Future (Soshisha), The Truth about History-related Disputes between
Japan and South Korea: Who Manufactured Abductions of Koreans and the Comfort
Women Issue? (PHP Institute), The South Korean Schism: North Korea Sympathizers
vs. Supporters of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan Alliance (Fusosha) and North
Korean Problems (Nuclear Weapons, Abductions) Can Be Resolved (PHP Institute).
Publications:
The Comfort Women Issue in
Sharper Focus
by Tsutomu Nishioka, Published from Japan Policy Institute (2015)
The basis of the ongoing diplomatic problem between Japan
and South Korea known as “the comfort women” issue is presented in the 2014 publication entitled “The Comfort Women Issue—A Review of the
Facts and Common Misunderstandings. —“ Among the fixed perceptions refuted
in the pamphlet is the misconception that “the Japanese army mobilized 200,000 Korean women as sex slaves and
slaughtered many of them after the war.” In this sequel, I will examine the
factual relationship of the following points to the comfort women discussion.
1. The significance of the Asahi Shimbun’s August 2014
acknowledgment of misreporting, its apology and its retracting of related
articles on the comfort women issue;
2. The reason why “comfort women” suddenly emerged as a
diplomatic point of contention in 1992; and
3. A description of the life of actual comfort women and
how it differed from that of “sex slaves.”
The Comfort Women Issue: Review
of the Facts and Common Mis-understanding.
by Tsutomu Nishioka,
published from Japan Policy Institute (2014)
PREFACE
It is a fact that during the war era a large number of
Korean women, along with Japanese women, became comfort women and suffered
greatly as a consequence. This was unforgivable from the standpoint of today’s
values by which Japan as well as South Korea prohibit the comfort women system
and prostitution. On the other hand, the allegation that the “Japanese military
forcefully recruited 200,000 Korean women as sex slaves and slaughtered many of
them after the end of the war” is not true. Substantive research and debate
over the past twenty-two years have vastly improved our knowledge of the
comfort women issue. This essay will address common allegations by illuminating
the facts while dis-pelling falsehoods that are unsupported by the evidence.
BEHIND THE COMFORT WOMEN
CONTROVERSY: HOW LIES BECAME TRUTH
by Tsutomu Nishioka, published
from The Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact
PREFACE
First of all, I would like to extend heartfelt greetings
to all those kindred spirits who have embraced the universal values of freedom,
democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
In 2007, the citizens of Japan were stunned by a spate of
resolutions condemning the Japanese government in connection with the comfort
women (prostitutes who provided sex services to Japanese military personnel
prior to and during World War II) emanating from the U.S. House of
Representatives, the Canadian Parliament and the EU Parliament. Their reaction
was perfectly understandable, given that the accusations in those resolutions
simply parrot anti-Japanese propaganda, and have no basis whatsoever in fact.
Take, for example, the following language in the U.S.
House resolution:
Whereas the Government of Japan, during its colonial and wartime
occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration
of World War II, officially commissioned the acquisition of young women for the
sole purpose of sexual servitude to its Imperial Armed Forces, who became known
to the world as ianfu or ‘comfort women’;
Whereas the ‘comfort women’ system of forced military prostitution by the Government
of Japan, considered unprecedented in its cruelty and magnitude, included gang
rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation,
death, or eventual suicide in oneof the largest cases of human trafficking in
the 20th century;
To make matters absolutely clear, these accusations can
be traced to political propaganda; not one of them is true.
Beginning in the 1990s, Japan was the arena of
contentious debates over these very accusations, which became the subject of
diplomatic discord between Japan and South Korea. The Japanese government
conducted an exhaustive investigation, scrutinizing thousands of documents.
Scholars in the private sector engaged in separate research efforts. No
evidence was uncovered indicating that the Japanese government had coerced
anyone to serve as a comfort woman.
According to a statement issued by the Japanese
government in 1994 (commonly referred to as the “Kono Statement” after then
chief Cabinet Secretary Kono Yohei, who delivered it) mentions that “in many
cases [comfort women] were recruited against their own will.” This means that
they were deceived by procurers or were born into poor families who sold them into
prostitution. It also acknowledges that “at times, administrative/military
personnel directly took part in the recruitments.” Here, the statement is
referring to exactly one case in which several Japanese soldiers stationed at an
outpost in Java, Indonesia, forced a female Dutch prisoner of war to work as a
prostitute for approximately one month, in violation of military regulations.
When military authorities got wind of the crime (a war crime), they immediately
shut down the brothel. The Allies later tried the perpetrators of the crime
(five soldiers and four private citizens), who were executed or given prison
sentences.
The Kono Statement acknowledges that many women who
serviced Japanese soldiers in war zones did so because no other options were
available to them during the era of imperialism. The statement also expresses
empathy for the ordeals they endured, and acknowledges moral responsibility.
Later in the Kono Statement, the Japanese government
apologizes to the Korean people who suffered under Japanese colonial rule, and
reiterates its “firm determination never to repeat the same mistake.” Moreover,
the government offers an apology to the comfort women for their pain and
hardship. There has been no change in this position.
In North Korea, Kim Jong-il’s terrorist administration is
attempting to deflect global attention from its abductions of private citizens
by launching a relentless political propaganda campaign at the United Nations
and elsewhere, accusing the Japanese government of forcing 200,000 Korean women
to become sex slaves prior to World War II. Although the series of resolutions
condemning Japan, which stand on the same lies and misconceptions as the North
Korean propaganda, has come as a great shock to the Japanese people, it has
given terrorist elements a cause for great rejoicing.
It would give me great pleasure if my book were received
as my attempt to provide information about the investigations and research on
this controversy conducted in Japan, in the hope of widening the network of
people who cherish freedom and democracy. For the past 16 years, I have been on
the front lines of the debate over the comfort women controversy, as it
unfolded in Japan. The English translation has been done by volunteers who share
my views and concerns. The great majority of Japanese will be heartened if
readers come to realize that at the heart of the controversy is a tragedy, meaning
that prostitution was one of the few options for many poor women, and that
neither administrative nor military authorities ever forced women to become sex
slaves.
Nishioka Tsutomu
Tokyo, 2007
Youtube: Brief review on Historical Facts underling Comfort Women Issues between Japan and South Korea
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