| bibo:abstract |
East AsianHistory Dispute and U.S.-Japan
Relations : the U.S. Congressional Discussions
on the????ComfortWomen????Issue
Ⅰ. Background
Policy Brief
Jo Yanghyeon
Professor
The so-called????East Asian history dispute????surrounding
Japan’s recognition of its past history has been enflamed
since the 1990s as it became the main diplomatic agenda item
among China, Japan and Korea. Since the inauguration of
Japan’s Abe administration in 2006, we have especially
witnessed the emergence of conflicts over the issue of
????comfort women.????
The U.S. government had previously maintained a
prudent position, citing the importance of U.S.-Japan relations
and upholding its principle that such matters should be
resolved by the parties directly concerned. Washington has
tried to avoid official remarks on sensitive issues like
historical disputes, where the national interests of regional
states stand divided. However, in the midst of a growing discourse about the war-time comfort women issue within the U.S. congressional
and media circles, the U.S. government has urged Japan for an active response,
bringing the comfort women issue into the surface as the main agenda item of
U.S.-Japan relations.
Ⅵ. Considerations
Prudent Approach on the U.S. House of Representatives Passing
the Comfort Women Resolution
The U.S. government is taking caution as its recent response to the comfort
women issue may send off a message supporting either Korea, China or Japan, all
of who stand against each other over the history disputes. As such, the Korean
government requires a prudent approach as well.
First of all, it would be inappropriate to expect that the U.S. will take sides
with Korea and China on other East Asian historical disputes such as the
Yasukuni Shrine matter solely based on its internal debate on the comfort women
issue. The reason why the comfort women issue was drawn into the limelight in
the U.S. was its inherent nature as a women’s human rights issue as well as a
historical awareness issue. The U.S. has so far maintained the position that the
East Asian historical disputes are to be solved by the parties directly concerned
and that Japan’s position on these issues are to be determined by its own
government. As such, the U.S. is avoiding any intervention in these issues and has
maintained its distance: a stance which will likely continue in the future.
Pursuing an Ethical Approach toward the Comfort Women Issue
Korea may find it more advantageous to approach the comfort women issue
from the ethical standpoint in pursuit of universal human dignities rather than
from the legalistic perspective. The recently published report titled “Japanese
14 Policy Brief 2007-3, July 2007
Military’s Comfort Women System” by the U.S. Congressional Research Service
provides the viewpoint that the Japanese government’s position, that it owes no
responsibility to directly compensate the comfort women victims, is a credible
legal position but that the same problem nevertheless carries a number of ethical
and moral implications.
Responding to the Question of Coercion of Korean Comfort Women
While pointing out Japan’s logical flaw in trying to narrowly define the
comfort women issue as an issue of “forced conscription,” Korea should further
support the efforts to uncover primary data rebutting Japan’s assertions. The
aforementioned U.S. Congressional report argues that the Japanese military was
involved in the entire process of the comfort women system from procuring and
transporting these women to managing the comfort stations. And it notes that
most of the victims were involuntarily forced into becoming comfort women, if
we also include those women who were deceived into such misery as being in the
same category of forced conscription. It also criticizes that the intention behind
the emphasis of Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Abe, focusing solely
on the narrow meaning of forced conscription is to downplay the Japanese
imperial army’s deep involvement in other components of the comfort women
system. Recently, new data and testimonies about comfort women are being
examined from volumes of records submitted by prosecutors of each state during
the Tokyo tribunal in Japan. It is imperative for the Korean government to obtain
and examine these records, conduct its own work to uncover data, and support
relevant research work.
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