The testimony of Lee Yong-soo (former comfort woman) is full of contradictions - an ethical leap by a Korean civil society group to make this an international issue.
Testimony of a former comfort woman who has changed over and over again
What follows is the evolution of the testimony of Lee Yong-soo, a leading figure and activist for South Korea's former comfort women. In the trial in which Professor Ryu of Yonsei University, who lectured on the idea that ``comfort women are prostitutes,'' was sued by the Justice League (comfort women's organization), Professor Ryu pointed out the ambiguity of Lee Young-soo's testimony, and as a witness. is requested to appear in court.
Let alone the credibility of her testimony, neither the Justice League nor Lee Yong-soo, the woman herself, could even present any evidence that she was a comfort woman.. As you can see in the image at the beginning, comfort women were recruited through public recruitment in newspapers, and were paid a salary that was unprecedented in terms of monetary value at the time.
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Japanese Military comfort woman recruited through a newspaper contest. There are many questions about forced arrests from a necessity point of view.
The most questionable point is whether forced arrest of Japanese Military comfort woman was necessary.Lee Yong-soo, who is said to be a former Japanese Military comfort woman, said that the sex industry exists in modern countries and Japan, and that the balance between supply and demand seems to be balanced.In other words, the percentage of men who seek this and women who provide services as a profession.How about in Korea?It is not a situation where people should be forcibly taken away even if they omit ethical issues related to sexual morals.By the way, Japan's unemployment rate stood at 2.8 percent in September.
At that time, many people on the Korean Peninsula were too poor to find jobs, but the unemployment rate dropped dramatically due to Japanese investment, and Joseon itself was surprisingly modernized and developed.Japan was never rich during the war, but men would have to hire them first to get a job.Are there more women who need jobs financially than now?The proportion of men and women after birth or in nature is about 1:1 .It's a simple arithmetic problem.
Japanese Military comfort woman is open to the public through newspaper advertisements, as left as data from that time.And prostitution itself was legal under the laws of the time.In addition, they are paid several times as much as college-graduated men.That seems to have gathered enough people.There are many questions as to why 300,000 people were forcibly taken away.
At that time, Japanese Military comfort woman was paid a lot of money, and when I returned to Korea, I got enough money to buy a house in just about two years.
1992 Testimony Even though I was 16 years old at that time, I was almost naked and couldn't eat or wear clothes, but someone brought me a dress and a pair of shoes. He gave it to me. I wonder how good it must have looked in my young mind when I was told that I would give it to you and let's go. At that time, I thought I didn't need to know anything about that, so I followed him.
1993 Testimony A friend of my age had a child named Kim Boon-soon, whose mother was in the liquor business. One day, when I went to visit his house, his mother said, ``What kind of child are you, you can't even put your shoes on properly? You should go over there with my shoes. "You'll have everything you need. You'll eat a lot of food, and your family will be able to live comfortably."
2004 Testimony I lived in Goseong-dong, Daegu until I was 16 years old.One summer in 1943, when I was 16 years old, I put on a hat that only showed my nose and mouth. A Japanese military official forcibly took me along with my four older sisters from the town. I didn't know where I was going or how I was going to take it. They put us on a windowless train, but when we said we weren't going, they called us Koreans and stepped on us with their shoes and hit us. When I said I was going home, he hit me again. He was beaten so much that he couldn't even walk.
2006 Testimony Around 1942, when I was 15 years old and sleeping at home, I was taken to Taiwan by the Japanese military.
Testimony, July 2014 One day in the year I turned 15, a Japanese military officer gestured to me to come. I was scared and ran away, but another Japanese soldier caught me and took me on a train to a Japanese military unit in Taiwan.
Testimony, September 2014 A 16-year-old Japanese woman showing off her dress and red leather shoes said, ``I'll feed you to the fullest, and I'll make sure your family can live happily.'' Deceived by the man's words, I followed my friend out. He was forcibly mobilized to a comfort station in Taiwan via China. He was the owner of the comfort station. He was also subjected to electrical torture by this master.
2017 Testimony At the age of 15, he was sleeping at home when he was taken away by the Japanese military.
<Translation excerpt: Korean wiki>
Lee Yong-soo took the stand as a witness in America
Lee Yong-soo also participated in the comfort women movement in the United States, and in 2007, she attended the U.S. House of Representatives as a witness and gave testimony when the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for an apology from the Japanese government. There is. The comfort women issue is precisely what Lee Yong-soo's testimony and the comfort women's organization Chongdaehyup (currently known as Justice League) are promoting not only in Korea but around the world under the guise of a human rights movement.
Human trafficking broker arrested many times
According to newspaper articles from the time (during Japan's annexation of South Korea), Japanese police had busted numerous crimes in which Korean human trafficking brokers abducted girls and sold them. During the Joseon Dynasty, when a class system existed, slaves were exchanged for items such as cow heads through human trafficking brokers.
35 years is too short for social change
The period of Japan and Korea's annexation lasted only about 35 years, and of course that was not enough time for cultural customs and social customs that had lasted for more than 500 years to disappear. The human trafficking brokers who supported the slavery system would have no income if they did not work, and although slaves did not exist under the family registration system, it was clear that many people living in similar conditions were left behind. It is thought that At that time, deceiving and buying and selling girls from poor families from rural villages was a common practice on the Korean Peninsula.