Assessment of the 12/28/15 Japan-South Korea Agreement on Comfort Women

Did the so-called agreement announced by the Foreign Minister of Japan Mr. Furnio Kishida and the Foreign Minister of South Korea Mr. Yun Byung Se make real progress in resolving the long-standing Comfort Women (or Sex Slaves) issue?

If you study the so-called “Agreement,” there is only one conclusion that you can come to, and that is:  Not only that it was not a breakthrough agreement, it raised more issues than resolving issues.  It definitely did not reflect the sentiments of the South Korean people, especially the former comfort women and the organizations that have championed their cause for decades.  Its apology lacked sincerity, and it did not acknowledge and assume responsibility for the atrocity that the Japanese government inflicted on innocent women and girls.  It did not mention any follow-on action to educate people about what happened in the past so that these wrongs will not be repeated in the future.  Its purpose seemed to be just the opposite, so that this issue will never be raised again in the future.  It was supposed to be a final and irreversible resolution of the comfort women issue, yet it was not even documented and signed as a written agreement.

The fact that President Park seemed to have changed her mind in the last year on this long-standing, important issue, while going against the sentiments of her people, raises the question on the complicity played by the U.S. government, in particular, what pressure did the U.S. exert on South Korea and what were promised to President Park by the U.S. government?

Finally, besides the comfort women in Korea, there were many other comfort women in other parts of Asia, such as China, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, etc.  What is Japan going to do to right the injustices inflicted on these other women and girls?

For a more detailed assessment of this agreement, see the article “Meaning of 12/28/2015 Japan and South Korea’s Oral Agreement on Comfort Women”:  http://www.dontow.com/2016/03/meaning-of-12282015-japan-and-south-koreas-oral-agreement-on-comfort-women/.

Assessment of Prime Minister Abe’s 8/14/15 Speech

On August 14, 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered his long-awaited speech on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in Asia. In his speech, Abe said “Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and hearfelt apology for its actions during the war. … Such position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future. … We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.” However, for reasons explained below, because of what he didn’t say and some other things that he did say, his speech is completely unacceptable to try to put this part of history behind us.

Because Abe and other Japanese leaders have on so many occasions made comments that are contrary to previous personal apologies by other Japanese leaders (comments such as the Nanking Massacre was just the natural result of war or it was fabricated by the Chinese, the comfort women were paid prostitutes, etc.), his comment about accepting previous apologies is meaningless. Furthermore, none of these former apologies was issued by Japan’s highest organ of state power, its parliament. Unlike Germany, the Japanese government has rewritten this part of history in their textbooks, and there is no law in Japan that makes it illegal to deny publicly the massive atrocities committed by the Japanese military during WWII. In addition, his action of paying tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 convicted and executed Japanese Class A war-crime criminals are enshrined again makes his speech meaningless.

Abe also blamed Western colonization and economic policies to cause Japan to take “the wrong course and advanced along the road to war.” In other words, Japan was forced by other countries to launch its war of aggression and unimaginable scale of atrocity. Does this reflect a man with “feelings of deep remorse and hearfelt apology for its actions during the war”?

This is why Abe’s 8/14/15 statement is far from sufficient to put this part of history behind us.

For the complete text of Abe’s speech: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/world/asia/full-text-shinzo-abe-statement-japan-ww2-anniversary.html.

Announcing a New Public Website: www.10000cfj.org

An important new website “10000 Cries for Justice” (or “一萬個正義的呼聲” in Chinese) was officially launched to the world in a press conference in Beijing on July 22, 2015. The URL for the bilingual website is www.10000cfj.org. To see the news release, click Chinese or English, respectively for the Chinese or English version.

The objective of the website is to create a digital archive of the written history from the Chinese victims of WWII crying for justice, and make available to the world these thousands of letters that Mr. Tong Zeng (童增) received 20+ years ago. This digital archive documenting the first-hand experience of the victims provides powerful evidence to refute all the false claims made by the Japanese government. It provides a powerful tool to learn from history. By finally resolving the long-overdue injustices, it will help to establish genuine friendship between the Japanese people and the Chinese people, and true peace between Japan and China, as well as other countries.

The following are 2 Chinese news media articles that came out on 7/22/15 reporting on that press conference:

* Media article 1: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-07/22/c_1116010135.htm?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0

* Media article 2: http://www.chinanews.com/m/sh/2015/07-22/7421520.shtml?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0#fromapp

More information about the website can be found from the website itself: www.10000cfj.org.

Japanese Medical School Museum Exhibits Vivisection Display on American POWs: (The Japan Time News, 04-04-2015)

The Kyushu University in Fukuoka recently displayed an exhibit of vivisection (operation on live humans without anesthesia) on American POWs in their new medical history museum. These are documents in their possession for decades, but never publicly revealed. The vivisection victims were eight American airmen shot down in 1945 from an American B-29 bomber. They were captured as POWs, and then were vivisected by the Japanese doctors at this medical school. The doctors killed the American POWs by injecting diluted seawater into their veins, removing their lungs or livers and performing other horrific experiments on their bodies to test their limits. To read more, click: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/04/04/national/new-kyushu-museum-breaks-taboo-with-pow-vivisection-display#.VclAq_lcBuk

Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 Surrender Speech: Beginning of 70 Years of Rewriting History:

The author of the article, Mr. George Koo, wrote “If you read Emperor Hirohito’s1945 surrender speech, you will have a better understanding of why the self-image of post-war Japan can be so vastly different from the view of Japan by others.” Koo wrote the ambiguity of Emperor’s concession “has allowed Japan to begin revising history. It’s as if denying all the brutalities committed in the past can exonerate the present from any collective guilt. Just the opposite is true. The people of Asia will continue to remind Japan until there is only one version of the tragic history of World War II.” You can read Mr. Koo’s full article at: http://atimes.com/2015/08/august-1945-japans-hirohito-conceded-he-did-not-surrender/

Historians Urge Japan to Set War Record Straight: (The Wall Street Journal: May 7, 2015)

Nearly 200 Western historians have called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to address Japan’s history of colonial rule and wartime aggression, in a clear rebuke of a leader who has clashed with neighbors over historical issues.

Among the 187 historians were John Dower, emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Herbert Bix, emeritus professor at Binghamton University; and Ezra Vogel, a Harvard historian. Mr. Dower and Mr. Bix wrote “Embracing Defeat” and “Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan,” respectively. Both books won the Pulitzer Prize and are considered required reading for those studying Japan’s modern history.

U.S. Historians Slam Abe Effort to Change Textbook Dealing with “Comfort women” (The Japan Times News, 02-09-2015)

Nineteen U.S.-based historians have protested attempts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration to suppress statements in U.S. and Japanese history textbooks about the “comfort women” who suffered under a brutal system of sexual exploitation during World War II. … In November, the Foreign Ministry told the Japanese Consulate in New York to ask publisher McGraw-Hill for changes in “Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past,” its world history school textbook co-authored by historians Herbert Ziegler and Jerry Bentley. … McGraw-Hill rejected the ministry’s request, saying that the scholars are aligned behind the historical facts of the issue.

You can read the full article at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/09/national/u-s-historians-slam-abe-effort-to-change-textbook-dealing-with-comfort-women/#.VclOMflcBuk

70th Anniversary Commemoration of the End of WWII in Asia: 9/9/15 Event at Monmouth County Library HQs

An almost full room of people had a very meaningful, educational, and enjoyable evening on an event that featured three different types of programs:

  • Recollection by Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang of his experience as a 14-year-old boy who was a victim and survivor of the Nanking Massacre causes one to ask how can humans do such inhumane actions to other humans
  • Very educational talk by Dr. Don Tow on “The Doolittle Raid: Mission Impossible and Its Impact on the U.S. and China”
  • Most enjoyable rendition of several popular and WWII songs sung by internationally acclaimed and Global Music Awards winner Mr. Chai-lun Yueh

2015 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour: July 9-23, 2015

The 2015 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour took place successfully July 9-23, 2015.  The NJ-ALPHA organized tour visited Shanghai, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Harbin, and Beijing in China.  Originally the tour was supposed to visit also Seoul.  Because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the visit to Seoul was cancelled and a couple extra days were added to Beijing.   There were 17 participants from the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong, with most being teachers/educators at the middle school, high school, and college levels.   We visited and had discussions with many leading researchers, historians, activists, and legal experts on comfort women, slave laborers, Nanking Massacre,  biological/chemical warfare, as well as visiting a residence of several Chinese WWII veterans (four male soldiers and one female nurse).   The sessions that had the greatest impacts and were most remembered deeply by the participants were the testimonies from a former comfort woman, a former slave laborer, two victims/survivors of the Nanking Massacre, two victims/survivors of explosions from WWII-left over chemical weapons, and a daughter of a man who was murdered by the Japanese military via vivisection.

All the participants described the study tour as a life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and committed themselves to incorporate this part of history into the courses they teach and facilitate other teachers to do likewise, and help make this part of history more widely-known.  The participants’ testimonies are posted in the Study Tour page.

The next Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour will take place in the summer of 2017.  There will not be a study tour in the summer of 2016.