Did sexual slavery exist, and should the female victims be compensated for the crimes committed against them?

During World War II, approximately two hundred thousand women were forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s armed forces. Euphemistically called “Comfort Women,” these women were enslaved in “Comfort Stations set up throughout East Asia by the Japanese military from the invasion of Manchuria in the late 1910’s until the end of the Second World War.

These young women, most of them Korean, were lured by the promise of jobs or were kidnapped by the Japanese. Upon their arrival at these comfort stations, they were subjected to repeated rape and beating for resisting sex. They were simply discarded when they got too sick to be of any use. During the last months of World War II, most Comfort Women were murdered or left to die by retreating Japanese troops. (Kazuko)

Surviving comfort women have suffered permanent injury from disease, psychological trauma, or social ostracism. None of them have ever received any kind of official redress form the Japanese gove

This irresponsible attitude of Japan is related to its ignorance toward other Asian states. Unlike Germany that made significant restitution to the neighboring countries, Japan has never been sincere in resolving this issue. Japan does not seem to feel guilty for its war crimes and responsible to compensate to Asian states. Japan's ignorance over the issue is one of the main reasons why the problem has remained unsolved. (Greenfield)

Opened to the West in 1854 by the US, Japan had a high productivity compared to other Asian states. However, it was at the same time constantly in danger of falling into colonial status by Western powers, just like many other Asian nations. Because Japan knew the effect of Western capital, it tried to develop its own power, while the Western interest was concentrated on India and China. Meanwhile, in order to dissolve the tension caused by the samurai class and to fulfill the long-time dream of expansionism, Japan began to colonize its neighboring powerless nations. Since Japanese imperialism was in a lower stage of capitalism than that of Western imperial powers, Japan had to exploit extensively the colonies as a means to accumulate capital. This explains why Japan was more violent in colonial rule than other imperial powers.

However, as the war continued and the number of soldiers exploded accordingly, the military comfort women mobilized among Japanese were insufficient in number to meet the demand of soldiers. Therefore, young women from Korea were regarded as endless supply for military comfort stations. This was also in compliance with the ethic liquidation policy rapidly implemented in Korea after the Chinese-Japanese War.

Some topics in this essay:
Japanese Army, Sunbawa Island, Japanese Japanese, American Forces, Korea Taiwan, Chunghee Venereal, Tokyo Hicks, Greenfield Military, Imperial Japan, Meiji Constitution, comfort women, comfort stations, military comfort, military comfort stations, japanese government, venereal disease, former comfort, japanese authorities, sexual slavery, former comfort women, medical examination, japanese army, military sexual slavery, world war ii, medical examination venereal,