Searching for the Records of the Pusan ‘Comfort Women’ and Women’s Labor Corps members vs. Japanese Government Lawsuit

The Korean Council activists visited Fukuoka and Shimonoseki to record the Pusan ‘Comfort Women’ and Women’s Labor Corps members vs. Japanese Government Lawsuit that was held in 1992 (also called Kanbu Saiban (Trial); Kan for Shimonoseki and Bu for Pusan/Busan) .

The Pusan ‘Comfort Women’ and Women’s Labor Corps members vs. Japanese Government Lawsuit sought an official apology and reparation from the Japanese government for 3 Japanese military sexual slavery victims (Lee Soon-deok 이순덕, Ha Soon-nyeo 하순녀, and Park Du-ri 박두리) and 7 victims of Women’s Labor Corps. The lawsuit achieved a valuable victory from the first trial in 1998, which ordered the Japanese Government to pay compensation to the 3 victims.

We visited Fukuoka to record the activities of the civil organization activists and lawyers who continued the fight that lasted more than 10 years, since the filing to the Shimonoseki branch of Yamaguchi District Court in December 25th, 1992 to the Supreme Court ruling in 2003.

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Day 1 in Fukuoka

We met with activists in Japan who supported the appeal to Hiroshima High Court. People learned about the Japanese military ‘comfort women’ issue in their 40s and 50s and started the movement. The fact that the activists who led the movement are now in their 70s and a few had already passed away made us feel that the halmonies are not the only ones who are running out of time.

During the interview with the activists, we were able to listen to the stories of how they started the lawsuit, how halmonies were doing back then, how halmonies transformed into activists, and how the Japanese society changed through working for halmonies’ lawsuit.

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Day 2 in Fukuoka

In the early morning, we moved from Fukuoka to Shimonoseki. Shimonoseki appears in multiple testimonies of halmonies who suffered from sexual slavery in South Pacific Mandate, Taiwan, Indonesia, and etc, which shows that Shimonoseki was a region of forced mobilization and war crimes. At Shimonoseki, we reflected on women who we cannot meet anymore, but must have been trembling in fear and helplessness.

At Shimonoseki, we met Mr. Hirosaki Ryu, the representative of a civic organization that worked to retrieve bank balance that Moon Ok-ju 문옥주 halmoni saved in Burma during the war. We were able to listen to his story on how he became aware of the Japanese Government’s responsibility for its war crimes through zainichi (Korean-Japanese) friends and started a civic organization. We were also able to listen to his memories with halmonies and insights on the issues and achievements of the activism. He also donated important resources that he has collected over years of activism.

In the afternoon, we moved to Hakata and met with lawyer Lee Park-sung who served as an attorney during the lawsuit. Mr. Lee clarified that the lawsuit demanded official apology and legal reparation from the Japanese government. Although the lawsuit did not lead to the apology and reparation, it still gained a partial victory that admitted the Japanese Government’s responsibility of legislative omission.

During the interview, we were able to listen to reasons behind why Shimonoseki branch was chosen instead of one in Tokyo, ethical responsibilities of the Japanese Government which were the points of dispute during the lawsuit, specifics of legal points including the responsibility of legislative omission, domestic and international situations during the lawsuit, and achievements. We were also able to learn about how the lawsuit impacted movements calling for reparations for war damages, the Japanese congress, and the Japanese government.

Mr. Lee shared that the Japanese Government must apologize when halmonies are alive, but they are in fact waiting for victims to pass away. Yet Mr. Lee suggested that the way to resolution can be found in a change in the conservative Japanese political system and emphasized the importance of solidarity among civic organizations in Korea and Japan to create a new movement in the Japanese society.

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Day 3 in Fukuoka

We met with Mr. Hanafusa Toshio, who served as the security general of an organization that supported the lawsuit, and Mrs. Hanfusa Eiko at their restaurant. They have visited Korea before to meet with Lee Soon-deok halmoni who stayed in Peaceful Our Home and was one of the plaintiffs. They organized the photos and related resources for our visit. With warm and organic meal they prepared, we conducted the interview or 5 hours.

Mr. Hanafusa shared the first meeting with the attorney, efforts in solidarity to cover for expenses of 10 victims who participated as plaintiffs, personal episodes and memories with halmonies who participated as plaintiffs, civic organizations’ works throughout 10 years of lawsuit, the Asia Women’s Fund that became a point of dispute during the lawsuit, distortion of historical textbooks, legislative actions, and etc.

We could look back on 30 years of movement for Japanese military ‘comfort women’ issue and reparation for war damages by Japanese civic organizations through individual activists’ stories.