A Testimony of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery during WWII

The experiences of the Chongshindae is remembered by many Koreans today; although only recently was this a story that went from a source of shame, to outrage, and testimonial. She symbolizes the survivor of colonization, where the Japanese government endorsed the forced prostitution of thousands of Korean women. Korea’s constant warfare with Japan ended with Japanese annexation of Korea (1910). During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) the Japanese Imperial Army first recruited military prostitutes. Testimonies indicate that twenty of thirty women recruited were Korean women. According to Alice Chai’s 1993 essay “Asian-Pacific Feminist Coalition Politics: The Chongshindae/Jungunianfu (‘Comfort Woman’) Movement,” military prostitution became an official large-scale operation in the Nanjing Massacre of December 1937. Women were recruited to prevent the Japanese soldiers from gang-raping women in the occupied territories in Manchuria. The Japanese government was reluctant to release Japanese prostitutes; procurers were hesitant in providing Japanese prostitutes in large numbers. The spread of venereal disease among Japanese prostitutes and soldiers led to the drafting of Korean women. This story highlights the racist/sexist attitudes of the Korean woman as dispensable. While this history appears to be one of the past, it is very much a part of our present. Current representations of Koreans are that of the exotic, hyper-sexualized bodies. I recall while talking with a colleague about bar girls, he said "I thought all bar girls are Koreans." While some bar girls are Korean, she too is diverse, but this stereotype, among many, suggests that she is presumably, often Korean. The connection, a history of exploitation continues, where the end of Japanese military sex exploitation did not end: the U.S. set up military camp towns in Korea, where surrounding these areas hostess bars popped up. These bars were venues for trafficking where many women ended up in Hawaii and the continental U.S. This testimonial is a remembering for me, of the Korean woman that is exploited because of race and sex -- it is a memory, re-memory, that she survives.


As Long As I Live
A Testimony of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery during WWII
February 12, 2007
7:30pm-9:30pm
University of California, Berkeley
Heller Lounge
MLK Jr. Student Union
Berkeley, CA 94720


Koon-ja Kim, 81, was among an estimated
200,000 girls forced to serve Japanese
soldiers as sexual slaves from 1937 to 1945.
Called "comfort women" these girls were as
young as 15.

The event will provide a rare chance to
listen to a firsthand account of an
overlooked part of history and crime against
humanity.

Koon-ja is one of the women featured in the
documentary lm, "The House of Sharing."

Co-presented by Asian American Studies Program at University of California, Berkeley
and California Institute of the Arts