April 27, 2007 - World War Two Sex Slaves - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Sex Slaves denied compensation by Japan’s Supreme Court.During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army held approximately 200,000 women as sex slaves to service Japanese soldiers. Most of the women, aged 12 to 21, were Chinese and Korean, although many women came from Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. The military set up “comfort stations” throughout Japanese war territories and researchers estimate there were 160 in Shanghai alone. These girls and women were forced into sex with up to 50 men per day and those that survived were badly beaten and unable to have children. They lived silently with the horrible shame until in the early 1990s, the South Korean government urged them to come forward. In 1993, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary acknowledged that the military had been involved in forcing some women into prostitution. The government considered this an apology, but the victims and their families did not. Some of the women became more strident in wanting an official apology from Japan’s Parliament – holding vigils, protests and telling their gruelling stories. At various times government officials and even prime ministers offered personal apologies and compensation to individuals, but the tide turned back when Prime Minister Shinzo denied the military’s involvement and only backtracked somewhat to stem the controversy during his first official visit to the United States in April 2007. At the same time, on April 27, 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court rejected claims for compensation of sex slaves while acknowledging the military’s direct involvement in one particular case. In June 2007, 44 Japanese members of Parliament bought a full-page ad in the Washington Post alleging the women were well paid prostitutes. The surviving women continue to press for action.

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Further episodes of Human Rights a Day

Further podcasts by Stephen Hammond

Website of Stephen Hammond