Japanese History Textbooks Greatly Reduce Description of Comfort Women... Sometimes Omit Mention of Coercion

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] On the 30th, it was revealed that most of the high school history textbooks approved by the Japanese government’s screening process described the forced mobilization of comfort women by the Japanese military and the human rights violations and violence that occurred during the operation of comfort stations in vague terms.

Daiichigakushusha had two history textbooks pass the screening, but regarding the forced mobilization of women from the Korean Peninsula as comfort women, they only stated, "Many women were sent to the front lines as comfort women," or "Women were sent to the front lines as comfort women."

The 'Kono Statement' announced by the Japanese government in August 1993 clearly stated that "comfort stations were established at the request of the military authorities at the time, and the former Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment, management, and transfer of comfort women," and acknowledged the responsibility of the military and government authorities by noting that "authorities sometimes directly participated in recruitment."

In light of this, Daiichigakushusha’s textbooks did not clearly specify who was responsible for mobilizing the victims, thus failing to clarify accountability.

The descriptions of the forced nature of the Japanese military’s mobilization of comfort women and the human rights violations and suffering experienced by the victims were also expressed ambiguously.

Tokyo Shoseki’s comprehensive history textbook stated, "During wartime, comfort stations were established in various places, and the human rights of many women were trampled upon," and "Many people under Japanese or Japanese colonial rule, or under Japanese occupation, were forced to serve as comfort women."

However, it did not clearly state that the victims did not become comfort women voluntarily, thereby obscuring the historical fact that it was a coerced choice.

Additionally, by using the term "served in the military," it could be interpreted as if they had voluntarily followed the military.

Jikkyo Publishing has two history textbooks, one of which addressed the comfort women issue only in a limited way in the section describing the Battle of Okinawa near the end of World War II.

This textbook explained, "About 10,000 to 20,000 Koreans were mobilized by the military in the Battle of Okinawa, and at 130 comfort stations, there were at least 160 Korean 'comfort women.'"

Considering that 240 comfort women victims are registered with the South Korean government, limiting the region to Okinawa and presenting the number as "at least 160" has been criticized as insufficient to show the full scale of the damage.

The currently used Jikkyo Publishing Japanese History A textbook introduces comfort women victims as women who were forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese military during the war and includes detailed content from the Kono Statement, thus dealing with the Japanese military comfort women issue quite thoroughly.

Compared to this, the content of the Jikkyo Publishing textbook that passed the screening this time is evaluated as a significant regression.

It is interpreted that after actively addressing historical issues and becoming targets of attacks by right-wing forces, the publisher became intimidated.

The Meiseisha textbook that passed the screening this time did not address the comfort women issue at all.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.