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comfort women

SOURCE: Harvard Crimson
2/16/2022

Harvard Law Prof Responds to Critics of His "Comfort Women" Claims, Fails to Squelch Controversy

Two Harvard historians (and several colleagues at other instituitons) say that Mark Ramseyer's defense of his article claiming Korean "comfort women" freely contracted their labor as sex workers serving Japanese soldiers during World War II ignores the substance of their criticism.

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
8/21/2021

Professor’s ‘Comfort-Women’ Lecture Gets Him Indicted—And Sparks Debate on Academic Freedom

"In an interview, Mr. Lew said he had given that same lecture for more than a decade. Students always pushed back and they debated. But the discourse had never before become public."

SOURCE: The Nation
5/26/2021

The History the Japanese Government Is Trying to Erase

by Chelsea Szendi Schieder

An academic involved in the recent "comfort women" controversy while teaching in Japan warns "In failing to teach what the wartime state did, the Japanese government only emboldens the forces of misogyny and racism and cultivates new generations of violence."

SOURCE: The New Yorker
2/26/2021

Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women

by Jeannie Suk Gersen

A Harvard Law School professor tried to understand why her colleague made a provocative and contrarian argument that Korean "comfort women" engaged in voluntary sex work. She discovered that recourse to the facts was both straightforward and frustrating.

SOURCE: New York Times
2/26/2021

A Harvard Professor Called Wartime Sex Slaves ‘Prostitutes.’ One Pushed Back

One of the last survivors among the Korean "comfort women" of World War II has denounced a recent paper characterizing the trafficking of women by the Imperial Japanese Army as ordinary prostitution.

SOURCE: The Asia-Pacific Journal
2/23/2021

Supplement to Special Issue: Academic Integrity at Stake: The Ramseyer Article

by Alexis Dudden

The Asia-Pacific Journal is publishing a collection of letters in opposition to the controversial article by Harvard Law professor J. Mark Rameseyer which characterized the sexual abuse of Korean women during World War II as freely contracted sex work.

SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
2/16/2021

Harvard Law Prof Rejects Historical Consensus on ‘Comfort Women,' Historians Respond

"There has been so much scholarship produced in the 30 years since the first survivor came forward and it’s almost as if Professor Ramseyer's decision is to just ignore all of the debate -- as if he’s the first person to come into this," said Alexis Dudden, an expert on modern Japanese and Korean history.

SOURCE: Harvard Crimson
2/15/2021

Journal Delays Print Publication of Harvard Law Professor’s Controversial ‘Comfort Women’ Article Amid Outcry

"Against the historical consensus, Ramseyer claims in his paper, entitled “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War," that comfort women were not coerced and instead voluntarily entered into contracts with Japanese brothels."

SOURCE: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
7/28/2020

New Statues Stoke Sensitivity Between South Korea, Japan

A pair of new statues in South Korea of a man kneeling in front of a girl symbolizing a victim of sexual slavery by Japan's wartime military is the latest subject of diplomatic sensitivity between the countries, with Tokyo's government spokesperson questioning whether the male figure represents the Japanese prime minister.

SOURCE: Yonhap News Agency
4/29/2020

Late 'Comfort Woman' Recognized for Lifelong Human Rights Activities with Amnesty Award

Kim Bok-dong, a former sex slavery victim-turned human rights activist received a posthumous award from Amnesty International.

SOURCE: The Guardian
11-30-18

'Comfort women': anger as Japan paper alters description of WWII terms

Change prompts concern that country’s media is trying to rewrite wartime history under rightwing pressure.

SOURCE: NYT
11-21-18

South Korea Signals End to ‘Final’ Deal With Japan Over Wartime Sex Slaves

The deal has been deeply unpopular among South Koreans, including some of the surviving victims, who say it fell short of official reparations and a declaration of legal responsibility on Japan’s part.

SOURCE: CNN
10-4-18

San Francisco Japanese sister-city cuts its ties over comfort women statue

The mayor of Osaka objects to the statue, which memorializes the Korean women exploited by Japanese soldiers in the thirties and forties.

SOURCE: NYT
1-12-18

Japan Balks at Calls for New Apology to South Korea Over ‘Comfort Women’

On matters of history, Japan and South Korea can never seem to agree to disagree.

SOURCE: NYT
12-27-17

Deal With Japan on Former Sex Slaves Failed Victims, South Korean Panel Says

The conclusions threaten the 2015 agreement over so-called comfort women, forced to work in brothels for the Japanese military from the 1930s until 1945.

SOURCE: Asia-Pacific Journal
12-14-17

What happened when a teacher assigned a book on "comfort women" shocked her

by Miriam Kingsberg Kadia

It was in a course on modern Japanese history where things went haywire.

SOURCE: South China Morning Post
11-5-17

South Korean Professor Fined for Book About “Comfort Women,” Proving the Truth Is Still Dangerous

The case against Park Yu-ha was not about whether her academic research was correct but whether the nine plaintiffs in the defamation suit had been harmed.

SOURCE: BBC
7-10-17

'Comfort women': Researchers claim first known film

South Korea has released what it says is the first known footage of "comfort women" forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

SOURCE: Japan Today
3-1-17

Japan has asked joined suit filed at the US Supreme Court to remove "comfort women” statue in California

The statue was erected in a community where Korean Americans live.

SOURCE: NYT
1-25-17

Professor Who Wrote of Korean ‘Comfort Women’ Wins Defamation Case

In a case closely followed by the South Korean news media, a judge in the Eastern District Court in Seoul ruled that her academic freedom must be protected.