History: How the Comfort Women System Arose, Operated, & Collapsed

The Japanese colonization of Korea, beginning in the 1910s, and the occupation, institutionalized racism and patriarchy, availability of ocean travel, and expanse of the Japanese Empire all contributed to the systematic trafficking system (Kowner). There was also a steady rise in anti-Japanese sentiment throughout East Asia at the time, and Japanese soldiers raping local women in occupied areas certainly did not improve their reputations (Jonsson). Having a system in place with women—specifically Korean women, who were regarded as subjects of the Japanese Empire—designated for sex was seen as a justifiable solution to the mass rape committed by Japanese soldiers, and abducting virgins and checking them relatively regularly for STIs was regarded as a means of reducing venereal diseases overall (Jonsson). Additionally, the Japanese government claimed that Korean comfort women protected Japanese women from being raped by the Imperial Army, evident of the clear racism and dehumanization of Koreans by the Japanese (Sonen). Essentially, the overall purpose of comfort women was to provide an outlet of relief and sexual pleasure at so-called “comfort stations” for Japanese soldiers and lift their morale after fighting (Jonsson). The demands and structure of the Imperial Army limited holidays and time off, especially for lower ranking soldiers, so comfort women became a substitute for emotional wellness at the expense of the victims’ wellbeing (Kowner). 

Recruitment into the comfort women system was typically conducted through the use of force and kidnapping, or deceit and false promises of finding work and income. While the vast majority of victims were from Korea, women from the following nations were also abducted and deceived: Japan, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, East Timor, India, Guam, and the Netherlands (Jonsson). Targeted women averaged between the ages of 14 and 19, but some victims were as young as 11. Most were unmarried, had no formal schooling, and came from low social classes (Kowner). Abduction was usually conducted by government employees, such as kempeitai agents, soldiers, police, and other officials, and through violent force or threats. The Japanese government also established the Chongsindae, also known as the Voluntary Labor Service Corps or the Women’s Voluntary Labour Corps, to recruit young women for war-related factory work (Jonsson). The Chongsindae drafted women aged 12 to 40 to various work sites dedicated to the war effort, claiming they would work for one to two years, but many were trafficked into the comfort women system instead. Private recruiters—which included both Japanese and Korean civilians—were also hired by the Japanese government and military to locate and acquire young women, typically with fake offers of education or good jobs (Kowner). Due to the war and colonialism, poverty, starvation, and suffering drove mass migration of rural young women into urban regions in order to find work, which often made them more vulnerable to deceitful recruitment practices (Kowner). 

Comfort women were trafficked throughout the empire and regularly transferred amongst the comfort stations throughout the Japanese Empire at the time, with locations in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South and North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Guinea, Kurile Islands, and Sakhalin. Comfort women were deliberately transported from station to station in order to degrade their sense of identity, as moving them away from family and friends and into regions where they did not speak the language prevented escape attempts and resistance (Jonsson). In general, comfort stations were highly monitored and intensely controlled by the military to prevent spy infiltration, and comfort women themselves were often questioned and interrogated by the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) to confirm their “allegiances” (Kowner). Surrounded by barbed wire, arsenals of weapons, and unpredictable soldiers, escape was nearly unthinkable, and those who made failed escape attempts were tortured before other comfort women to dissuade anyone considering running (Kowner).  

The length of “service” as a sex slave for each survivor varies, with some periods ranging from one to two years while others served up to 14 years (Kowner). Comfort women were exposed to intense physical and psychological abuse and torture regularly. Comfort women on average were expected to “serve” about 10 to 30 men per day depending on soldier demand, but it was not uncommon for women to be forced to serve up to 40 men a day. The line of soldiers waiting sometimes stretched over a mile depending on the size of the station, and women rarely had time to clean, eat, or care for themselves in between soldiers. Kamikaze pilots also often gained permission to spend entire evenings with comfort women the night before their death missions (Kowner). Additionally, soldiers were rarely reprimanded for inflicting violence on comfort women, and they often attacked, beat, stabbed, burned, and even killed them, especially when women refused to perform certain sexual activities (Kowner). Survivors have also stated that soldiers would electrocute them for resisting or for simply talking, singing, or crying (Sonen). While soldiers often had to pay a fine for “services,” comfort women rarely ever received payment themselves, and if they did receive money, it hardly was enough to compensate for the horrors they experienced. Medical care was also inadequate, resulting in thousands of deaths and lasting cases of chronic pain, permanent disabilities, STIs, and infertility (Sonen).

As World War II came to an end, many comfort women were deliberately murdered by the Japanese soldiers, killed by air raids and Allied bombings, forced to commit suicide, or abandoned in regions they did not know well (Jonsson). About 70% of comfort women died before the end of WWII, and few survivors were able to actually return to their hometowns (Ching). Many survivors feared stigmatization and potentially being ostracized if they returned home, and became forced to settle somewhere new or wander for the rest of their lives (Kang). If survivors did end up returning, many suffered from sexually transmitted diseases, severe trauma and psychological disorders, and the lasting effects from physical and emotional abuse (Ching), as well as endured intense shame, humiliation, and guilt due to Korea’s cultural association with Confucianism and its strict codes on sexuality, especially when it came to women and patriarchal constructs of virginity and purity (Han Koo). Victims were further forced into silent suffering and enduring the lasting traumas on their own.