PROTECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF COMFORT WOMEN HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 15, 2007: THE MOST ESSENTIAL POINTS AS i SEE THEM

The original document is some 95 pages long. I have gone through the document and picked the sections that I think are most significant, ending up with around 45 pages of material.

There are five major themes I found.

1. No real high up Japanese government office has apologized for the entire Japanese government, just for themselves.

2. There is a movement by right-wingers to downgrade the severity of what Japan did during the war, claiming the women were prostitutes.

3. After the war ended there was no large-scale punishments of the men involved in establishing and/or running the 'comfort stations' nor the men in the government who ordered them established.

4. Japan might be playing a waiting game, waiting for the last of the women involved to die off and then just hope everyone else forgets about it.

5. Some Asian cultures effectively punished the women involved with they basic idea of they were not 'spoiled good.'

WITNESSES

The Honorable Michael M. Honda, a Representative in Congress from the State of California

Ms. Yong Soo Lee, Surviving Comfort Woman, Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery

Ms. Jan Ruff O’Herne, Surviving Comfort Woman, Friends of Comfort Women in Australia

Ms. Koon Ja Kim, Surviving Comfort Woman, National Korean

Ms. Mindy Kotler, Director, Asia Policy Point Ok Cha Soh, Ph.D., President, Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues

PROTECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF COMFORT WOMEN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, C OMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC.

The subcommittee recognizes also Madam Pak, who is the Na- tional Assembly Member and the daughter of the late President of South Korea, President Pak Chung Lee. The subcommittee also welcomes our witnesses, including our colleague, the gentleman from California, Mr. Honda, and Ms. Yong Soo Lee, Ms. Jan O’Herne, Ms. Koon Ja Kim, Ms. Mindy Kotler and Dr. Soh. We also welcome Ms. Anna Song who will be translating for Ms. Lee and Ms. Kim.

Today our subcommittee will consider House Resolution 121, in- troduced by my good friend and colleague, Congressman Honda, which urges, basically, the Government of Japan to formally ac- knowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility for its Im- perial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slav- ery—or forced prostitution if you want to put it in other terms— during its occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands before and during World War II.

I want to note for the record that former Congressman Lane Evans from the State of Illinois originally spearheaded this effort to defend the human rights of those who came to be known as Jap- anese military, and I quote, ‘‘comfort women.’’ Congressman Honda has continued Mr. Evans’ work in part to bring clarity and closure to this issue given that there has been some suggestion the Gov- ernment of Japan is now trying to downplay its culpability.

Clearly, it is a matter of historical record that the Japanese mili- tary forced at least some 50,000 to 200,000 women from Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Holland and Indonesia to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during World War II and even before that. House Resolution 121, introduced by Congressman Honda, calls upon the U.S. House of Representatives to urge Japan to accept full responsibility for the actions of its military.

Japan contends that it has accepted responsibility. But it wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that major publications in Japan began to describe the details of what is now known as the ‘‘comfort women’’ system, and that countries occupied by Japan also began to speak out about it.

In response to these developments, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Sec- retary Kono Yohei issued a statement of admission and apology in 1992. Prime Minister Koizumi also issued an apology in the year 2001. However, in 2006, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimo- mura Hakubun, as well as Japan’s largest circulating newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, specifically challenged the validity of the Kono Statement and this has led to the belief that Japan is attempting to revise history.

I also note that according to the Congressional Research Service, and I quote, ‘‘There has been a noticeable trend for new editions of history textbooks to omit references to comfort women.’’ The Japanese Diet Government says this is not the case and has submitted statements suggesting otherwise, which I have included for the record.

Civilized society cannot allow history to be revised or denied under any circumstances. Regardless of what bearing this, or any other issue, may have on bilateral relations or U.S. foreign policy, civilized society has a moral obligation to remember, to give voice to those who have suffered, to pay living tribute to victims past and present, to defend human rights and human dignity. Otherwise we run the risk of another Holocaust or, in this case, young women being forced into sexual slavery.

While I am aware that Japan set up the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995 and agreed to pay for medical and support programs, and fund operational expenses for comfort women victims, the Japanese Government refused to finance atonement payments. Atonement payments were financed through private Japanese contributions and, to date, only 285 women have received payments from the Asian Women’s Fund. In March of this year, the Asian Women’s Fund will expire.

For the record, I will emphatically state that I do not believe any amount of money can atone for what these women suffered and, while I support any woman’s right to lay claim to these funds, I do not believe the Japanese Government or its citizens should sug- gest that a monetary payment can right a moral wrong. So for me, any and all discussions about Asian Women’s Fund sufficing as an act of apology falls far short of what is relevant.

Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, thank you for that opportunity, and let me just say as a cosponsor of this resolution, the Japanese com- fort resolution, I greatly appreciate you holding this hearing today. Beginning in the 1930s the Imperial Government of Japan or- chestrated the enslavement—as the chairman said—of somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 young women who would euphemistic- ally come to be known as comfort women. Many of these women were abducted from their homes and sent to Japanese military brothels. Others were lured from their homes under the false pre- tense of work or were told that they were being sent for employ- ment, and of course they found neither. The trauma and shame that these women suffered drove many to conceal their past, either too embarrassed or scared to speak of it.

Many died without ever mentioning their ordeal, suffering in si- lence and in psychological angst. Though the democratic Govern- ment of Japan today bears no resemblance to Imperial Japan and is a good ally not only of the United States but of democratic gov- ernments everywhere in the world, to this day the Japanese Diet maintains that all potential claims by individuals for suffering in- flicted in the war were closed by treaties normalizing its ties with other Asian countries. Clearly many feel differently.

It is important that the Japanese Diet confronts this dark part of the history of Imperial Japan. In the previous Congress, the House International Relations Committee passed out of our com- mittee House Resolution 759, the Japanese Comfort Women Reso- lution of which I was also a cosponsor. This resolution calls on the Japanese Government to formally acknowledge and take full re- sponsibility for their sexual enslavement for thousands of young women.

Mr. R OHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Today we are addressing a subject that is very painful, especially to the families and those former comfort women who will be providing testimony for us today. To each of those brave women, I extend my thanks for participating today, and to help Americans understand the suffering that took place during this time during the Second World War, and my most sincere sympathy for the pain and the suffering and the agony that these individuals have had to suffer. As everyone knows, during World War II Japan forced many thousands of innocent women from other countries in Asia to per- form sexual services for the Japanese military. The victims known by the euphemism comfort women were not only raped many times but also mistreated and murdered. Many died and all of them suf- fered greatly.

George Santayana said that those who cannot remember the past are certainly condemned to repeat it.

House Resolution 121 demands that Japan apologize but, Mr. Chairman, Japan has already apologized many, many times which is exactly what they should have done. They should have apolo- gized, and they did. The central thrust of H. Resolution 121 is to demand, and I quote, ‘‘Japan should formally acknowledge, apolo- gize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner.’’ But the most compelling point in our discussion should be that Japan has in fact done exactly what the resolution de- mands.

Japan has apologized many times, and it has done so in clear and strong terms, and that raises questions about this resolution. In 1994, for example, the Japanese prime minister stated the fol- lowing: ‘‘On the issue of wartime comfort women, which seriously stained the honor and dignity of many women, I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my profound and sincere re- morse and apologies.’’

A line of Japanese prime ministers, many Japanese prime min- isters since 1994 have issued very similar statements, and the cur- rent Prime Minister Abe, for example, has confirmed the policy of his predecessors, and I would like to submit for the record a copy of the text Prime Minister Kaszumi’s letter to comfort women. Prime Minister Kaszumi stated very clearly, ‘‘As prime minister of Japan, I thus extend a new my most sincere apologies and re- morse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women. We must not evade the weight of the past nor should we evade our responsibilities for the future.’’ That was the prime minister of Japan, and the words, ‘‘As prime min- ister of Japan,’’ are key here. That was meaning he was apologizing for the Japanese people. It was an official apology by the prime minister of Japan exercising his official capacity.

Japan has a parliamentary system. It also has a prime minister who is a member of the Diet. In addition, the Diet has issued nu- merous statements accepting responsibilities for Japan’s actions during the Second World War. Mr. Chairman, this issue of an apol- ogy has been fully and satisfactorily addressed. Yes, it is important for us to set the record straight for history exactly how diabolical and horrible these activities were by the Japanese during the Sec- ond World War.

But we must be accurate in what we are saying in terms of the Japanese position of today. For example, another part of H121, which I find to be misleading, is the fact that it talks about Japa- nese textbooks downplaying the comfort women tragedy. Well as in the United States, textbooks in Japan are chosen by local not cen- tral government authorities. A panel of experts in Japan has iden- tified 18 history books that are used by the Japanese high school students. Of those 18, 16 address the comfort women matter, and all 18 describe the suffering of peoples in neighboring countries during the Second World War.

Finally let me note, Mr. Chairman, that we have to make sure that what we do in condemning the past, that which has already been condemned and we have demanded that of Japan, that we are not unfairly suggesting that the Japanese of today must in some way be punished for two generations of Japanese ago did. That is not the way to create more harmony in this world.

So let us not beat someone after they have apologized. Let us make sure that we acknowledge and thank them for being open with us on those issues to the degree that they have. Now if I am wrong, I am willing to listen and to hear but I have got the quotes from the prime ministers. We have got people we talked to, the Japanese. They all suggest that we are so sorry about these things and apologize profusely et cetera, and it seems to me that we should be setting the record straight but not blaming the current generation of Japanese. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I ask if our good friend from Ohio, my good friend Congressman Chabot, if he has any opening statement.

Mr. C HABOT.

And it is my understanding that some of the countries have ei- ther discouraged or prevented payments from being made for one reason or another.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I want to note that this was an issue that I had brought to the attention of the Ambassador from Japan, and that was the question I also raised. If there were somewhere between 50 to 200,000 women that were under this forced prostitution and the fact that only 283 or 285 were compensated, I think we can all ap- preciate the psychological impact and why any woman would be so embarrassed even trying to say anything publicly about what hap- pened in this part of our global history if you will of what the Japa- nese military did against these women but that certainly is an issue that we ought to pursue and see what we can do to see what else can be done.

Mr. R OHRABACHER. T

So if there was some way to make this a more private process that people could obtain the funds without necessarily broadcasting to the world how these funds were obtained I think that would be something, and it is also my understanding that—and I believe it is Taiwan and Korea is what I was told—that basically have a pol- icy that they either do not permit it or frown upon it. So perhaps we could work with those countries as well to do something to try to help these women. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I thank the gentleman for responding. I think one of the issues that I, in my readings and the accounts that give in to this issue, is the fact that many of these women do not really care about any monetary compensation.

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL M. HONDA, A REP- RESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALI- FORNIA Mr. HONDA.

The urgency is upon this committee and the Congress to take quick action on this resolution for these women are aging and their numbers dwindling with each passing day. Elected officials of Japan have taken steps on this issue, and for that they are to be commended. In 1993, Japan’s then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued an encouraging statement regarding comfort women, which expresses apologies and remorse for the government’s ordeal.

Additionally, Japan attempted to provide monetary compensation to surviving comfort women through the Asia Women’s Fund, a government-initiated and largely government-funded private foun- dation whose purpose was a carrying out of programs and projects with the aim of atonement for the comfort women. The Asia Wom- en’s Fund is to be disbanded on March 31, 2007.

Recent attempts, however, by some senior members of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party to review and possibly retract Sec- retary Kono’s statement are disheartening and mark Japan’s retary Kono’s statement are disheartening and mark Japan’s equivocation on this issue.

Additionally, while I appreciate J apan’s creation of the Asia Women’s Fund and the past prime minister’s apologies to some comfort women which accompanied this fund’s disbursal of mone- tary compensation from this fund, the reality is that without a sin- cere and unequivocal apology from the Government of Japan, the majority of surviving comfort women refused to accept these funds. In fact, as you will hear today, many comfort women returned the prime minister’s letter of apology accompanying the monetary compensation saying they felt the apology was artificial and dis- ingenuous.

For example, in 1988, Congress passed, and President Ronald Reagan signed into law, H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was a formal, clear, unequivocal apology to the United States citizens of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly put into in- ternment camps during World War II.

For many Japanese Americans whose civil and constitutional rights were violated by internment, that dark chapter of history was closed by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which emerged over 40 years after internment. Seeking reparations was a long and ar- duous journey, but the apology, once it came, was clear and un- equivocal. Reconciliation is something our generation should right- fully be calling for in order to promote the growth of a peaceful global society, and to address issues of the past so we can finally put them to rest.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I thank the gentleman for his testimony, and I would like to say at this point in time also in commenting to the gentleman’s statement the fact that it took our Government what some 50 years that we finally made a formal apology by a congressional enactment and resolution, and also by that we also gave compensation to the number of survivors among the Japanese Americans that they were I think about $20,000 per person but it was not the money. It was the whole idea of the concept that there was a formal apology made through congressional legislation. This is what makes this country so great. That it is willing to correct its mistakes and doing so in a way that finally as the gen- tleman said earlier we have now put this chapter to a close. I know for many years many of my Japanese American friends older than me refused, hardly anyone would want to talk about what they went through. I call them concentration camps and what our Gov- ernment did against them.

I might also note for the record this incident happened 50 years ago but another incident also occurred over 100 years ago where our Government and officials illegally and unlawfully seized a sov- ereign government that existed in the Hawaiian Islands. Just sim- ply went over there. The marines just went over there and took over the government from Queen Lili’uokalani, and what did we do? After almost 100 years, we also issued a formal apology through congressional legislation recognizing the wrong that we did some 100 years ago telling the native Hawaiian people we did you wrong, and we apologize.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I will also say to the gentleman that as a former member, as a reserve officer of the distinguished battalion now known as the 442nd, 100th battalion, 442nd infantry, I can tell you how the gentleman feels in terms of as an American who happens to be of Japanese ancestry where young men of Japanese ancestry, Americans, volunteered despite all the bigotry, the ha- tred, the racism that was heaped upon them. Still volunteered to fight our enemies during World War II which became known as the 100th battalion, 442nd infantry, the most decorated military unit of its size ever in the history of the United States Army. And I can practically memorize 18,000 individual decorations were given, over 9,000 Purple Hearts, 562 Silver Stars, 52 Distin- guished Service Crosses which was the second highest, and what happens? Only one Medal of Honor. We had to take corrective ac- tion for that too. So Senator Akaka introduced legislation we need to review this. Something seems to be wrong here.

And after reviewing of the process, all of a sudden that we have 19 additional recipients of the Congressman metal of honor, those of Japanese American ancestry who fought against our enemies during World War II. So I would say to the gentleman that I can appreciate where you are coming from because you personally expe- rienced this. Now I do not mean to get out of touch in terms of our purpose but I think the intent of when somebody suffers psycho- logically, spiritually and mentally I think the basis of you intro- ducing this legislation, and like I said with all the respect that I have for our colleague from California but this is part of the proc- ess.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. All right. Thank you. At this time I would like to invite the next panel, Ms. Yong Soo Lee. She is a surviving comfort woman, member of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery. Also Ms. Jan Ruff O’Herne, also a surviving comfort woman, Friends of Comfort Women in Australia, currently living in Australia, and also Ms. Koon Ja Kim. Just for the purposes of the record, I just want to say that we are going to need some real good translation here for our friends. I know that Ms. O’Herne does not need a translator but for our good ladies who traveled so far and certainly thank them so much. Ms. Yong Soo Lee was born in Korea in 1928 as the only daughter of a poverty stricken family. During her childhood, she studied in the evening at Dalsung Elementary School for 1 year because of fi- nancial difficulties.

At the age of 16, she was taken as a sexual slave to serve the Japanese Imperial Army. Thereafter she was forced to labor as a sexual slave in Taiwan and survive until the war was over. Her Japanese name was Tosiko. At the end of World War II, she re- turned to her homeland, Korea, in 1945. She gave her first public testimony in 1992, disclosing her ordeal as a former comfort woman under the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Since 1992, she has been attending numerous international con-

In September 2001, Jan received a knighthood from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. She received the ANZAC Peace Prize in 2002 in recognizing her contributions of international peace and goodwill.

We also have as our third witness Ms. Koon Ja Kim. I will not say she is 21 years old. Koon Ja Kim is 81. She was born in the Kangwon Province. She was orphaned at the age of 14, and to sup- port herself and her siblings she worked as a maid. At 17 years old she was forcibly drafted by the Japanese military to serve again forced prostitution and now as a comfort women.

After 3 years of being physically abused and raped on a daily basis, the war ended. With no money and physically defeated body, she and a small group of other women summoned their strength of spirit to walk hundreds of miles over several weeks back to Korea.

STATEMENT OF MS. YONG SOO LEE, SURVIVING COMFORT WOMAN, KOREAN COUNCIL FOR THE WOMEN DRAFTED FOR MILITARY SEXUAL SLAVERY

Ms. LEE. I live in Taegu, South Korea. My name is Lee Yong Soo, and sometimes I am a 14-year-old girl, and I look outside my window, and there is a girl, and there is a Japanese man, and they are say- ing something to each other, and they are gesturing me to come out. I did not know anything. I did not know what was going on but they gestured me to come out so I came out, and as you seen her dress, the girl and the Japanese soldier put their hand on my shoulder, and covered my mouth, and the soldier put something against my back, and like that in the middle of the night I was taken away.

So when I was taken away I was taken to a bridge. Underneath the bridge there were cars going by, and when I arrived there I saw three other girls and they gave me a parcel, a ripped parcel, and I had a feel of what that parcel had inside it, and there were some clothes and some shoes. And then we were taken to a train station. We were taken on a train. It was my very first time in my entire life to board a train, and my head hurt a lot. I can even re- member now I told them my head hurts, my head hurt, and they called me something like Jo Sen Ging or something like that, and they started hitting me with their fists and kicking me with their feet. And they kicked me and punched me so much that I lost con- sciousness.

So the train went all the way to North Korea. It went to P’yongan, and from there we got off of the train, and we were at a port. We were told to board a ship. So we boarded this ship, and there were 300 soldiers on the ship as well as us. As we were going on the ship, the ship was rocking like this, and on the ship I had seasickness. I had seasickness so badly that I went to the toilet in- side of the ship, and I remember I was being sick inside the toilet, and then as I was getting up I saw shoes of a Japanese soldier. And as I was trying to get out of the toilet, the soldier gestured like this and prevented me from coming out of the toilet, and I re- member I bit his arm very hard but then he hit me. He hit me back. He hit me back really hard, and after that I lost conscious- ness. When I woke up again, they told me we found you covered in blood without consciousness. So they put a blanket over me, and they told me do not get up. Do not get up and close your eyes. As I was lying there, I opened my eyes a little bit, and I could see from the corner of my eyes all around me the Japanese soldiers were all over the girls but even then I did not know what was real- ly going on. The ship was shaking a lot. There was a lot of turbu- lence, and they told me to change my clothes, and they gave me a set of new clothes, and they told me that the ship cannot go on. It has to stop, and there were still soldiers. And I did not know what was going on. I did not know what it meant that the ship has to stop.

And we traveled I do not know for how long on the ship, and then one day they told us to get off. We got off the ship, and we saw a truck. They told us to get on the truck, and when we got out of the truck we saw a house, and I looked inside the house, and there were pretty women wearing kimonos to the one side, and to the other side there were little rooms, and they used blankets to make curtains to provide petition for the little rooms.

Ms. L EE. The soldier told me to come, and when I went he told me to go inside a room. I could see a Japanese soldier inside the room so I said, I am not going in. I am not going in but they held me like this, and they just dragged me inside the room. The room had a big lock, and they put me in there. They kicked me, and they had sticks they beat me with. They even had knife. They put it here, and they wrapped something around my wrists, and at that point I remember I screamed out ‘‘Mom, Mom.’’ I screamed out, and right now, right now I can hear that sound ringing in my ears. I was really beaten a lot. I was really beaten a lot. I even got electric shock. I even got tortured. And then one day they told us the war is finished. I remember there was a Japanese soldier he was in a special like special force like the marines, and I remember he gave me a Japanese name. He called me Tosiko.

And my mother came up to me, and she said, this is a ghost of my daughter, and she hit me, and she went a little crazy, and she bit me on the face, and she hit me saying, I am a ghost. And my father at that point he was just drinking everyday, and when he saw me he was shocked, and he had a stroke, and soon after that he passed away. Here is a victim. Here is a witness but still the Japanese Government is lying.

I will continue until they get down on my knees in front of me and then they give me their sincere apol- ogy.

I am a victim. I have been damaged. I have gone through suf- fering. So I ask you, the chairman and the members of the com- mittee, I feel embarrassed and ashamed but I have told you my story. The Japanese Government have never apologized to me. See I have been protesting for the last 15, no, the last 16 years I have been in Wednesday demonstrations but never once have the Japa- nese Government apologized to me. Never once have I gotten any- thing from them. Never once.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lee follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF MS. YONG SOO LEE , SURVIVING COMFORT WOMAN, KOREAN COUNCIL FOR THE WOMEN DRAFTED FOR MILITARY SEXUAL SLAVERY

My Early Life

I was born in 1928 in the Korean city of Taegu. My family was poor and nine of us lived in a single, small house: my parents, my grandmother, my five brothers, and myself. I only had one year of formal education and spent most of my childhood caring for my younger brothers and doing household chores so my father and moth- er could work outside our home to support the family.

At the age of 13, I also began working in a factory and tried to return to school, but the heavy burden of work prevented me from focusing on my studies. To tell the truth, I was not a highly motivated student, although I did enjoy music lessons and was told I had a pretty singing voice.

During World War II, when I was 15, I was drafted to the training group for the Voluntary Corps in Ch’ilsong Elementary School. Boys and girls lined up separately for training, and we did exercises and marched in neat lines. We also had to march home at the end of each day. Our lives were highly regimented.

In the autumn of 1944, when I was 16 years old, my friend, Kim Punsun, and I were collecting shellfish at the riverside when we noticed an elderly man and a Japanese man looking down at us form the hillside. The older man pointed at us with his finger, and the Japanese man started to walk towards us. The older man disappeared, and the Japanese beckoned to us to follow him. I was scared and ran away, not caring about what happened to my friend. A few days later, Punsun knocked on my window early in the morning, and whispered to me to follow her quietly. I tip-toed out of the house after her. I lift without telling my mother. I was wearing a dark skirt, a long cotton blouse buttoned up at the front and slippers on my feet. I followed my friend until we met the same man who had tried to approach us on the riverbank. He looked as if he was in his late thirties and he wore a sort of People’s Army uniform with a combat cap. Altogether, there were five girls with him, including myself.

We went to the station and took a train to Kyongju. It was the first time I had been on a train. In Kyongju we were put up in a guest-house. We stayed in the guest-house for two days, during which time two more girls joined us. Now there were seven of us. We boarded a train and passed through Taegu where I could just see my home through the broken window. I suddenly missed my mother. I began to weep, saying I wanted to go home. I pushed the bundle of clothes away and con- tinued to cry, asking the man to let me get off. He refused. Exhausted, I finally fell asleep as the train just kept on going. We must have traveled for several days.

Beating and Torture

We got off the train at Anju, in P’yongan province, and were led to what looked like an ordinary residential house. An elderly woman was keeping the house on her own. Food was short, and we were given boiled potatoes and corn. We felt very hun- gry and sometimes during our stay there we would pinch apples from the tree. The Japanese man who had led us from Taegu punished all of us if any single girl did something wrong. We had to stand on small round clubs, holding large bottles filled with water in our hands. Or he would beat our palms and the soles of our feet with sticks. He would ask one of us to bring him water to drink, and if the girl was slightly slow in doing what was asked, he would beat all of us. Any excuse prompted a beating. We became so scared that we tried not to upset him in any way. In the winter, we froze, feeling ice form all over our bodies. If we complained of the cold, he would beat us. We shivered and tried to keep our frozen hands warm, doing everything behind his back. The two girls who had joined us in Kyongju were taken away, leaving the five of us who had set off together at the beginning of our journey. We remained in Anju for about a month and then boarded a train once more to travel to Dalian. We stayed overnight in a guest-house in Dalian. The fol- lowing morning we were given soup and steamed bread. We boarded a ship and were told that a convoy of eleven boats would be sailing together. They were big ships. We were taken into the last one. It was already crowded with Japanese sail- ors. We were the only women.

New Year’s Day 1945 was spent on board. The ships stopped in Shanghai, and some of the sailors landed for a short break on shore. We were not allowed to dis- embark. I was summoned on deck and sang for the men. Afterwards, an officer gave me two rice cakes. I shared them with the other girls. The ships stated to sail again but often halted because of bombing. One day our ship received a direct hit. The other ships were destroyed, but only the front of our ship was damaged. Men shout- ed and screamed outside our cabin. The ship was tossed about, and I suffered with severe seasickness. My head was splitting with pain, and my stomach seemed to turn upside down. I remember crawling towards the bathroom, throwing up as I went along, when I was grabbed by a man and dragged into a cabin. I tried to shake him off, biting his arm. I did my best to get away. But he slapped me and threw me into the cabin with such force that I couldn’t fight him off. In this way I was raped. It was my first sexual experience. I was so frightened that what actually hap- pened didn’t sink in at the time. I vaguely thought that this man had forced me into the room just to do this.

People kept shouting that we would all die since the ship had been torn to pieces.

We were told to put life-jackets on and to stay calm. We thought we were going to drown. Dying seemed better than going on like this. But the ship somehow managed to keep going. Later I found out that I was not the only one who had been raped. Punsun and the others had also suffered that same fate. From then on, we were often raped on the ship. I wept constantly, until my eyes became swollen. I was frightened about everything. I think that I was too young to hold a grudge against my aggressors, though looking back I feel angry and full of the desire for revenge. At that time I was so scared I didn’t even dare look any man squarely in the face. One day I opened the window of our cabin and tried to jump into the water. It would have been better to end my life then and there, I thought. But the water, blue-green and white with waves, scared me so much that I lost the courage to throw myself out.

Eventually we arrived in Taiwan. When we disembarked I couldn’t walk properly as my abdomen hurt so much. My glands had swollen up in my groin, and blood had coagulated around my vagina. I could walk only with great difficulty, since I was so swollen that I couldn’t keep my two legs straight. The man who had accompanied us from Taegu turned out to be the proprietor of the comfort station we were taken to. We called him Oyaji. I was the youngest amongst us. Punsun was a year older than me and the others were 18, 19 and 20. The proprietor told me to go into a certain room, but I refused. He dragged me by my hair to another room. There I was tortured with electric shocks. He was very cruel. He pulled out the telephone cord and tied my wrists and ankles with it. Then, shouting ‘konoyaro!’ he twirled the telephone receiver. Lights flashed before my eyes, and my body shook all over. I couldn’t stand it and begged him to stop. I said I would do anything he asked. But he turned the receiver once more. I blacked out. When I came round my body was wet; I think that he had probably poured water on me.

Life in the Comfort Station

The comfort station was a two-storey Japanese-style building with 20 rooms. There were already many women there when we arrived. About ten, all of whom looked much older than us, wore kimonos. There was a Japanese woman, the propri- etor’s wife. We changed into dresses given to us by the other women. The proprietor told us to call them ‘nesang’, ‘big sister’ and to do whatever they told us to. We began to take turns to wash their clothes and cook for them. The food was again not enough. We ate gruel made with millet or rice. I was terrified of being beaten; was always scared. I was never beaten by soldiers, but I was frequently beaten by the proprietor. I was so frightened that I couldn’t harbor any thoughts of running away. After having crossed an ocean and not knowing where I was, how could I think of escape?

We mainly had to serve a commando unit. They were not in the slightest way sympathetic towards us. They wore uniforms, but I had no idea whether they were from the army, navy or air force. I served four or five men a day. They finished their business quickly and left. Hardly any stayed overnight. I had to use old clothes, washed thoroughly, during my period. Even then I had to serve men. I was never paid for these services.

There were frequent air raids, and on some days we had to be evacuated several times. Whenever there was a raid, we were forced to hide ourselves in mountain undergrowth or in a cave. If the bombing ceased, the men would set up make-shift tents anywhere, on dry fields or in paddies, and they would make us serve them. Even if the tents were blown down by the wind, the men didn’t pay any attention but finished what they were doing to us. Those men were worse than dogs or pigs. They never wore condoms. I don’t remember ever having a medical examination.

In the end I was infected with venereal disease and the proprietor gave me the injection of the serum known as No. 606, which was used before penicillin became widely available. Apart from going to the bomb shelters we weren’t allowed out at all. We were warned that if we tried to venture beyond the confines of the station we would be killed, and I was sufficiently scared not to try anything. The men we served in the unit were all young; they seemed to be 19 or 20 years old, not much older than we girls were.

Until then I had known we were somewhere in Taiwan, but because we were kept in such close confinement and isolation , I had no idea of exactly where. From his song I learned we were in Sinzhu. When we were evacuated to avoid the bombing we stole sugar cane. We were that hungry. But if we were caught we were beaten. We were not allowed to speak in Korean. Again, if we were caught doing so, we were beaten.

The War Ends

One day, one of the older girls who normally hardly spoke a word to us announced that she, too, was Korean. She told me, in Korean, that the war was over. We hugged each other and wept with joy. She held my hand tightly and told me I must return to Korea. We could hear people shouting and running about. This confirmed to us that the war was really over. By the time we had calmed down, the proprietor and the other women who had been at the station before us were nowhere to be found. We walked to a refugee camp by the pier. It looked like a warehouse. We were given balls of boiled rice which had dead insects mixed in. We waited for a ship. I was scared even then that someone might drag me away, so I sat, shaking with fear, in a corner wrapped in a blanket. I kept crying so much that my small eyes got even smaller.

After my return, I couldn’t dare think about getting married. How could I dream of marriage? Until recently I had suffered from venereal disease. My parents and brothers did not know what I had been through; I could not tell them. My father was upset merely because his only daughter wouldn’t get married.

STATEMENT OF MS. JAN RUFF O’HERNE, SURVIVING COM- FORT WOMAN, FRIENDS OF COMFORT WOMEN IN AUS- TRALIA Ms. O’HERNE.

My experience as a woman in war is one of utter degradation, humiliation and unbearable suffering. During World War II, I was forced to be a so-called ‘‘Comfort Woman’’ for the Japanese mili- tary, a euphemism for military sex slaves. I call my story ‘‘The For- gotten Ones.’’ I was born in Java, in the former Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia, in 1923 of a fourth generation Dutch colo- nial family.

When I was 19 years old, in 1942, Japanese troops invaded Java, and together with thousands of women and children I was interned in a Japa- nese prison camp together with my mother and two younger sisters for 3 1 ⁄ 2 years.

Many stories have been told about the horrors, brutality, suf- fering and starvation of Dutch women in Japanese prison camps but one story was never told. The most shameful story of the worst human rights abuse committed the Japanese during World War II. The story of the comfort women, the jugun ianfu, and how these women were forcibly seized against their will to provide sexual services for the Japanese Imperial Army.

I had been in a camp for 2 years when in 1944 high ranking Jap- anese officers arrived at the camp. The order was given. All single girls from 17 years up had to line up in the compound. We were very anxious about this.

We thought it was just another inspection.

The officers walked toward us, and a selection process began. They paced up and down the line, eyeing us up and down, looking at our figures, at our legs, lifting our chins.

They selected 10 pretty girls. I was one of the 10. We were told to come forward and pack a small bag. The first things I put in my bag were my prayer book, my rosary beads and my Bible. I thought somehow these would keep me strong, and then we were taken away. The whole camp protested, and our mothers started to pull us back. I embraced my mother and two young sisters, not knowing if I was ever going to see them again.

We were hurled into an army truck like sheep for the slaughter. We were terrified, and we clung to our bags and to each other. The truck stopped in the city of Semarang in front of a large Dutch co- lonial house. We were told to get out. Entering the house, we soon realized what sort of a house it was. A Japanese military told us that we were here for the sexual pleasure of the Japanese. The house indeed was a brothel.

We protested loudly. We said we were forced to come here against our will. That they had no right to do this to us, and that it was against the Geneva Convention but they just laughed at us, and said they could do with us as they liked. We were given Japa- nese names, and our photos were taken, and these were put on a pinup board so that the soldiers could choose the girl that they liked the best.

He pointed this sword at me threatening me with it, and he said that he would kill me if I did not give myself to him.

He then threw me on the bed, and ripped off all my clothes. He ran his sword all over my naked body, and played with me as a cat would with a mouse. I still tried to fight him but he thrust him- self on top of me, pinning me down under his heavy body. The tears were streaming down my face as he raped me in the most brutal way. I thought he would never stop.

He then left the room, and my whole body was shaking. I was in total shock. I gathered up what was left of my clothing and fled into the bathroom. There I found some of the other girls. We were all crying and in shock. In the bathroom, I tried to wash away all the dirt and shame of my body. Just wash it away. Just wash it away. But the night was not over yet. There were more Japanese waiting, and this went on all night. It was only the beginning. In the early hours of the morning, 10 exhausted girls gathered round and cried over lost virginity. How could this happen to us? We were so helpless. The house was completely guarded. There was no way to escape. At times I tried to hide. I even climbed a tree once, and it took them half an hour to find me but at least it had saved me one rape. So I was always found. After the hiding then I was dragged back to my room. I tried everything. I even cut off all my hair so that I was totally bald. I thought if I made myself look ugly nobody would want me but it turned me into a curiosity object. They all wanted the girl that had cut off her hair. It had just the opposite affect.

Never did any Japanese rape me without a fight. I fought each one of them. Therefore, I was repeatedly beaten and threatened that they would send me to a brothel downtown where it would be much worse but I still kept on fighting them. In the so-called ‘‘Comfort Station,’’ I was systematically beaten and raped day and night. Even the Japanese doctor raped me each time he visited the brothel to examine us for venereal disease. And to humiliate us even more, the doors and windows were left open so that the Japa- nese could watch us being examined, and this was as horrific as being raped.

During the time in the brothel the Japanese had abused me and humiliated me. I was left with a body that was torn and frag- mented everywhere. My young body. Something beautiful, a temple of God. They violated it, and made it into a place of sinful pleasure. The Japanese soldiers had ruined my young life. They had stripped me of everything. They had taken everything away from me, my youth, my self-esteem, my dignity, my freedom, my posses- sion and my family but there was one thing they could never take away from me, and it was my firm Catholic faith and my love for God. This was mine, and nobody, nobody could take that away from me. It was my deep faith in God that helped me survive all that the Japanese did to me.

I have forgiven the Japanese for what they did to me but I can never forget. For 50 years the comfort women maintained silence. They lived with a terrible shame of feeling soiled and dirty. It has taken 50 years for these women’s ruined lives to become a human rights issue. The war never ended for the comfort women. We still have nightmares. We had no counseling. After the war, we just had to get on with our lives as if nothing had happened. Our bodies were damaged. I had three miscarriages after I married Tom.

I needed major surgery to restore my body. In 1992, the war in Bosnia had broken out, and I could see that women were again being raped in an organized way, and then after that, that same year, I saw the Korean comfort women on tele- vision. They broke their silence, and Ms. Kim Hak Sun was the first comfort women to speak out. I watched them on television as they pleaded for justice, for an apology and compensation from the Japanese Government.

I decided to back them up especially as I realized that in Bosnia women again were being raped on an organized scale. I decided to break my silence, at the international public hearing on Japanese war crimes in Tokyo in December, 1992, and I revealed one of the worst human rights abuses of World War II, the forgotten Holo- caust. For 15 years I have worked tirelessly for the plight of com- fort women in Australia and overseas and for the protection of women in wars so that these wartime atrocities will never happen again.

Now time is running out. After 60 years, the comfort women de- serve justice. They are worthy of a formal apology from the Japa- nese Government, from the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself, and what I call an apology is an apology that is followed by action, the same what the American Government did. It was followed by action that paid compensation to the Japanese that were put in prison camps here but this is the one thing that Japan has never done. Their apology has never been followed by action.

The Japanese Government must take full responsibility for their war crimes. In 1995, they established the so-called Asian Women’s Fund to compensate the victims. This fund was an insult to the comfort women, and they, including myself, refused to accept it. This fund was a private fund. The money came from private enter- prise and private business. It did not come from the government. Japan must come to terms with its history and acknowledge their wartime atrocity.

They must teach the correct history of the mistakes made in the past. When I was in Japan only a couple of years ago, I was invited to talk at high schools and colleges about what happened during the war. Not one of those students knew about the horrific atrocity that the Japanese committed during World War II. It is important that the surviving comfort women tell their stories. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I thank you for this opportunity to share my story. I hope that by speaking out I have been able to make a contribution to world peace and reconciliation, and that human rights violations against women will never happen again.

We protested loudly. We said we were forced to come here, against our will. That they had no right to do this to us, and that it was against the Geneva Convention. But they just laughed at us and said that they could do with us as they liked. We were given Japanese names and these were put on our bedroom doors. We were a very innocent generation. I knew nothing about sex. The horrific memories of ‘‘opening night’’ of the brothel have tortured my mind all my life. We were told to go to the dining room, and we huddled together in fear, as we saw the house filling up with military. I got out my prayer book, and led the girls in prayer, in the hope that this would help us. Then they started to drag us away, one by one. I could hear the screaming coming from the bedrooms. I hid under the table, but was soon found. I fought him. I kicked him with all my might. The Japanese officer became very angry because I would not give myself to him. He took his sword out of its scabbard and pointed it at me, threatening me with it, that he would kill me if I did not give into him. I curled myself into a corner, like a hunted animal that could not escape. I made him understand that I was not afraid to die. I pleaded with him to allow me to say some prayers. While I was praying he started to undress

STATEMENT OF MS. KOON JA KIM, SURVIVING COMFORT WOMAN, NATIONAL KOREAN AMERICAN SERVICE AND EDU- CATION CONSORTIUM

Ms. KIM. Chairman and members of the committee, in front of you I get to speak out my rancor, my compressed anger and suf- fering in the bottom of my soul, and I feel like by speaking to you some of that is evaporating. When I was little we lost our parents. In our family there is only three girls but all of those three girls because we were orphans we were sent to other people’s houses to live with them.

So I was sent to a family in Gangwon Do, Gangwon Province, and that house was in front of a train station, and when I was 17 years old I was sent outside for an errand by that family, and that is when I was captured and taken away. So when I was taken away, we boarded a train, and there were lots of soldiers, and there were lots of women who were forcibly taken away and put on that train.

And where that was where we were I mean is the border be- tween Korean, Russia and China. There was a place called Hunchun. So after we arrived, we spent the night, and the next day the soldiers were lining up, and they were coming in. I did not speak English. Sorry. I did not speak Japanese. I did not learn. So I could not understand what the soldiers were saying, and I could not understand them, and the soldier hit on this ear, and my ear- drums popped or it ripped so I cannot hear from this side. So I was crying and I was crying, and the soldier grab a hold of me and then started to rip all of my clothes off. So after he ripped all of my clothes off, he just grabbed me, and he was just on top of me, and after it finished——

T RANSLATOR. Let me just make a note she is refusing to say the word ‘‘rape.’’

Ms. K IM. And then I was lying there naked, and I did not even have time to put my clothes back on, and then another soldier came in.

So it was as if we were dead. We did not even get up, and I was just lying there as if I was dead. I did not even move, and they still came on top of me. They still came. All I can remember was that there was a Saturday but I do not even remember how many, for how long because I lost consciousness. I lost conscious- ness, and the soldiers they still came.

So after that day, the next day the soldiers were gone. There were hardly anyone around, and I gained some of my consciousness back but the day after that it was the same as the first day. The soldiers starting lining up again. So soldiers they lined up, and they came in, and the soldiers they have the thing that they have to put on their——

T RANSLATOR. She is referring to condom.

Ms. K IM. They have to use that but everyone refused. They re- fused to wear condoms. They have to use that so that disease do not spread, and with women they have to use that so that they will not get pregnant but all of them they just refused to use it. So days just went on just like that. I was speechless. I was completely dumbfounded, and I was hurting so much. So I was going to com- mit suicide. I was going to die.

So I wrapped a rope around me, around my neck, and I tried to commit suicide but I did not succeed. Instead, I was found by the owner, and I nearly died from the beating. So days went on and on like that. I rather have died. I really wanted to die but I could not even die because they were watching over me. Because there were guards watching me.

And the soldiers the low ranking ones have a little knife and the generals they have a bigger knife, and these soldiers if they cannot do as they please they stabbed you with the knife. It is okay if they just stab you and pull the knife away but what they do is they put the knife in. They stab, and they twist. So days went on. Days went on just like that. And the place we were at it was Hunchun, and then we were taken to Kokashi. That was the front line of the war. The soldiers were sent to the front line, and the women had to be sent with them.

There it was a battlefield, and the Japanese soldiers they went worse. They became more violent because they did not know whether they were going to die. They beat me, and they punched me here, and they beat me like that, and sometimes they put me up against the wall and my head was hurting, and I felt like I was going to die. It felt like I was going to die, and I often lost con- sciousness.

And there the soldiers they were so mean, and it was so hard. I suffered so much, and really I wanted to die. When they came in, they became so violent, and they would hit me, and they would punch me, and clothes like this they will hold it like this, and they will rip them, and it was so difficult. It really was so hard on the front line at the battlefield where they were fighting. I think they were going crazy, the soldiers. I think they were going crazy. So they get given this thing to wear. They are given this thing.

TRANSLATOR. She is talking about condom again. Ms. K IM. But they never ever use it. They just rip it off.

Ms. K IM. I think they go crazy. They did not recognize me as a person. They just wanted to kill me, and when they saw me they wrapped their hand around my neck, and they wanted to choke me. So at Kokashi the war ended, and the owner just told us you go. You just go. You go off on your own but there we did not have any money. We did not know where the roads went to, and there were not even cars.

So we did not even know what was going on but later I found out at that point America dropped the nuclear bomb on Japan, and then Japan defeated. There were 20 women all together but be- cause the owner told us to just go that the seven women we set off. So we were walking. We walked for 11 ⁄2 months, and we would just survive by pulling out radish from the field, and we walked all the way to Baekdu Mountain.

For us we have never received official apology. To us they have never ever apologized. So I say to them, if you do not officially apologize or give me compensation, then give me back my youth. I will end here.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Kim follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF MS. KOON JA KIM, SURVIVING COMFORT WOMAN , NATIONAL KOREAN AMERICAN SERVICE AND EDUCATION CONSORTIUM

Eventually the truck stopped in front of a house that looked like an old inn. I was later told that the name of the town was Hunchun, China. The next evening, a Japanese officer came to the house. He spoke Japanese, which I did not under- stand. I did not know what he was saying or what he wanted until he raped me. When I refused and fought back, he punched me in the face and the blow split my eardrum. That was the first of many days and nights that I was raped. On a daily basis, I was raped by Japanese soldiers, and it was common to be raped by 20 dif- ferent soldiers a day, and on some days, it was as high as 40. If we fought or re- sisted the rapes, we would be punished, beaten or stabbed by the soldiers. There were soldier overseers to make sure that we complied and, if we resisted, they would punish us. My body is forever marked and scarred with those beatings and in some cases stabbings with a knife. Many soldiers refused to wear condoms. We would be beaten for insisting that they wear condoms. It was common for girls to become pregnant and to contract sexually transmitted diseases. But if a girl became pregnant, she was forced to have an abortion. I was one of those girls. Eventually, we were moved to the front lines of the war to a town called Kokashi (Japanese name for a town in China). I did not believe it could get worse, but it was. The sol- diers on the front lines believed they were going to die and so they acted out their fears and stress on us by being more violent than one can imagine.

After three years of this nightmare, the war ended and, I thought, so would my nightmare. After years of imprisonment and threats against our lives, we were sim- ply told to leave. We had no money and no idea where we were or how we would get home again. Six other girls and I walked to the border of China and Korea. It took us several weeks by foot to arrive at Baekdu mountain, which is in the border of China and North Korea. We survived by eating roots and vegetation from the ground. We had to cross the Duman River near the border to survive. We clasped hands and held on to each other as we crossed the river. One of the girls drowned and we could not save her.

I eventually made it back to my hometown but I did not have anyplace to go. I had no family or friends and I would never go back to Mr. Choi’s house. To survive, I worked in a hostess bar. There, I met my old boyfriend again. We wanted to be together again, but his family again objected because I was an orphan. After mount- ing pressure and difficulty with his family, he committed suicide. After his death, I found out I was pregnant with his child. His family and other people in the town blamed me for my boyfriend’s suicide, so I left to go to Seoul. I first worked at a hostess bar and then found a job as a housekeeper. My baby girl was born but only lived for five months. All the money that I made as a housekeeper, I spent seeking religious healing. I really wanted to know why fate had been so cruel to me. I sought healing and answers from Buddhist temples, world churches, and other reli- gions. I am a Catholic now. Government social services eventually introduced me to the House of Sharing (a home for former comfort women), where I now reside. My body has so many physical scars and reminders of those three violent years of my life as a young girl. There are memories that I will never be able to erase. In addition to these physical and emotional scars, the Japanese government con- tinues to torture and punish me every day that it continues to deny the truth of those camps and what it did to me and other young girls. The war has ended but for 62 years, I have had to live a life with a scar in my heart. Not only does the Japanese government deny these barbaric actions, it claims that we voluntarily sub- mitted to its repeated rapes and torture. The Japanese government continues to treat us as if we are not human. I believe that the officers in the Japanese govern- ment are fathers and mothers—would they act the same way if their daughters were in my situation? We were dragged there when we were young and our youth was robbed. As young girls, our innocence and youth were beaten and taken from us and our voices and cries for help were muffled and smothered with the stench of Japanese soldiers. Now, as elderly women, although we may be physically frail, we have the strength of spirit to give voice to those young girls.

Ms. L EE. I have been thinking, and I have been thinking, and there is something very, very strange. I have to ask you this. Be- fore gentleman over there said that there is a document, there is a document which says that Japanese Government has already apologized but as a victim and as a surviving comfort woman, I have never received anything. Why is it that when I have not re- ceived anything that that gentleman over there has received a doc- ument with Japanese Government’s apology? From justice, can you not tell the Japanese Government is lying? So I really want to ask you how is it that he has an apology and I do not?

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. This document was issued on May 2004, 3 years ago. Translate it in the microphone so that our friend, Ms. Kim, could also understand.

Ms. L EE. It is just strange to me that the victims and the sur- vivors have not received it. It is just strange.

Ms. O’H ERNE. Well as I said earlier on, a real apology to me is if it is followed by action, and what is action? Action is taking re- sponsibility for their actions and owning up to their wartime atroc- ities which they never have done. When I was in Tokyo, they showed me in a museum a train, and underneath it said this train was built by Japanese military. This train that went through Burma, the famous Burma railway was built by prisoners of war like my father. Thousands died on that railway. They were all pris- oners of war, and then they dare put under it that it was built by Japanese military.

The history they teach to their students and to the young people is totally wrong. This is what I would like to see happen that they are told the real history of their wartime atrocities. That is part of the apology.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. One of the questions that was raised earlier is the fact that only 283 of the comfort women were willing or were compensated by this fund that was established by the Japanese Government. Out of some 200,000 women that were tortured and raped?

Ms. O’H ERNE. Two hundred thousand. That is the official num- ber, 200,000. So most of them, including myself, refused it you know. It was such an insult. How dare they because by doing this they still did not take the responsibility like the private people doing, and if we would have accepted it that would have been the worst mistake because then we would have said, you see they are not responsible. They have never been responsible but by refusing it we have shown the government has to take a responsibility. It must not come from private funds.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. The concern that I have is how can we in- crease the number? You know as I realize I think the fund is going to end next month. Has there been any serious effort to commu- nicate or is it just difficult for our comfort women to come forward? Has this been the real reason why hardly anybody pays attention to this? Let me ask Ms. O’Herne for her response to my question is if it is all right with you.

My question again: Out of 200,000 women that were tortured and gone through this forced prostitution they only end up with only 283 that were identified apparently by the Japanese Govern- ment to be compensated, and I wanted to ask you is it because they did not bother making contact?

Ms. O’H ERNE. We have too much pride. We have pride. We are not taking it from a private fund. It has got to come from the gov- ernment.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Please.

Ms. L EE. The Japanese Government they are at it again because they sent to you to the United States this 283, because I asked them for their names when I went to the Japanese Diet. They would not give it to me but they gave it to you. So the Japanese are at it again. I think you know this well, Chairman. So I am going to ask a question which is: Chairman, how do you know about the 283 women who accepted the fund? How do you know about that?

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Will the gentleman yield? I think something also to understand in terms of our procedures in a committee, and I think in listening to the statements made by other members of the committee, one of the fundamental issues that is being ques- tioned on this proposed resolution how far back do we have to go to bring out the sins of the past so to speak? I think that was one of the issues that my friend from California raised. They have already made the apologies. How many more apolo- gies do you need? That is really the essence of the arguments that are being made now by our friends from the other side, and it is a valid point. And of course, Mr. Honda, if I wanted to ask you what would be your response because their proposed resolution does call for the Government of Japan to issue a formal apology.

Mr. H ONDA. Moving from the fund, I was looking at motivation for the establishment of the first fund but if you are in front of the Diet in terms of apologies—let me be more direct. The reason I worded the resolution as unambiguous, unequivocal and clear to me means that the Diet, as a government body, should act upon the apology, and as a body, as a government, apologize to the vic- tims, and then the prime minister, on behalf of that action, apolo- gize to the victims.

The wording of Koizumi and the other prime ministers may have said that they represent the government, but they said ‘‘my’’ re- grets. It was a personal acknowledgement of their regrets, and to me, in my opinion—and I am not an expert on parliamentary gov- ernment in Japan—but it seems to me that it does not represent the government, and when the government has an entity to make a clear action by the government and then the prime minister says to the country, we acknowledge the mistake and the terrible poli- cies that we have victimized the women of the other countries, and it will not happen again, that they will be clear in their textbooks and the instruction of their own people that this is unequivocal. There should be no room for ambiguity as to what their position

That is why I bring up the action of the United States Govern- ment. Congress apologizing as an act of Congress. Then the act being signed into law by the President as a clear, unequivocal ac- tion of this government in its apology, and I look for parallel action made by the Japanese Government.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. I do not mean to offend our witnesses who traveled so far but we do have another panel that we have to bring on. But again I want to thank Ms. O’Herne and Ms. Kim and Ms. Lee for a most touching and a very not only just informative but certainly hopefully as a real education to the American people as well what you three have had to endure and what you have had to go through. At this time, I again thank you ladies.

I would like to ask Ms. Mindy Kotler, the director of the Asia Policy Point. If we could add maybe two more chairs. Let us have our friends there sit there. That is okay. Ms. Kotler, we can pull up another chair there. We are not that formal.

Mr. H ONDA. And, Mr. Chairman, as they come up we could say to our witnesses, Gamsa Hahm-nida.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Ms. Kotler, and we also have Ms. Soh.

Ms. L EE. I just want to tell you for sure, Mr. Chairman, for sure I think the number of people who accepted the Asian Women’s Fund cannot be over 50 because in 1992 when we started publicly speaking out there were in total 300 survivors, and to say that 283 has accepted the fund, there is not enough survivors alive for there to be that number. So what I am telling you is that that is a ma- nipulation by the Japanese Government. That is an indication that this is one of their lies, and because the survivors are old and dying, there is no way that number can be 283, and I would just like to thank you for today.

STATEMENT OF MS. MINDY KOTLER, DIRECTOR, ASIA POLICY POINT

Ms. KOTLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the op- portunity to testify today on Japan’s contemporary responsibilities for its war crimes of Imperial Japan from 1932 to 1945. I am hon- ored and humbled to be here with Ms. O’Herne, Grandma Kim and Grandma Yong. Before I proceed, I would like to submit for the record five supporting documents on Japan’s involvement in estab- lishing the Imperial military’s comfort women system.

Ms. K OTLER. And one of them is an excerpt from former Prime Minister Nakasone’s memoirs where he describes how he set up a comfort station in the Dutch East Indies. Another is a chart that outlines how the six leading publishers of Japanese textbooks as of this year, the 2006 edition, has no mention whatsoever of comfort women.

The explanations have unsettling parallel to the dismissal of the Holocaust where the victims are recast as aggressors. More trou- bling and unlike today’s Germany, most Japanese leaders—and es- pecially the current Shinzo Abe government—hold retrogressive, pseudo-notions of Japan’s history. You will probably be surprised to learn that over the past few months Japan’s most respected and widest circulation, News Daily, which is equivalent to the New York Times in Japan, published two editorials calling the comfort women system a historical fabrication, and senior advisers to the prime minister have publicly expressed a desire to dilute or rescind the Kono Statement, the closest statement Japan has on record apologizing for the comfort women tragedy.

An apology by a Japanese prime minister is an individual’s opin- ion. For an apology to be official, it would have to be: A statement by a minister in a session of the Diet, which is their Parliament; a line or a line in an official communique´ while on an overseas visit; or to be definitive, a statement ratified by the Cabinet. None—and I repeat none—of these conditions have been met. The few apologies given by prime ministers on this issue can be viewed as the equivalent of the President signing a treaty, but the Senate never ratifying it. The letters of apology which you have heard so much about today, which have been given by a number of prime ministers, Hashimoto, Obuchi, Mori, and Koizumi, are all the same letter, and they do not constitute a government—I repeat a government—apology.

This is not the definition of reparation, one which implies a gov- ernment payment? The majority of comfort women wanted the na- tional Government of Japan, as Mr. Honda has so carefully pointed out, to take responsibility for the history. Also, the Asian Women’s Fund was never designed to compensate all the comfort women. Only—and I repeat only—women from South Korea, Taiwan, Indo- nesia, and the Philippines were considered part of the fund.

Korean women left behind by retreating Japanese troops in Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, China and North Korea were not in- cluded. Survivors who came from United States territories such as Guam where Japanese troops were stationed or those who immi- grated to the United States were not included. The compensation for Indonesian survivors went directly to the Indonesian Govern- ment to build apartments of which none have ever been inhabited by any comfort women.

For elderly, poor, generally illiterate and outcast women, 3 years is simply not enough time.

Quite frankly, if you understand the Japanese political process, the right wing is so strong that many politicians, many historians, many newspaper people are terrified to say something against the re- gime. They will get phone calls in the night. They will get funny little things turning up at their door. They will get threatened and roughed up. This is unbelievable and inexcusable. I know too many scholars, American scholars, who have been threatened.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Ms. Kotler. Our next witness is Dr. Ok Cha Soh. Dr. Soh has served as the President of the Wash- ington Coalition of Comfort Women Issues that was established in 2001. This organization is a nonprofit educational organization founded since 1992 to promote, research and education pertaining to crimes against comfort women during World War II. Dr. Soh has been conducting numerous seminars, workshops and forums on U.S. campuses and engaging the public awareness of comfort women internationally.

If those some 200,000 girls and women who were subject to this brutal sexual slavery were primarily European or American wives, do you think that issue of the surviving comfort women would have kept ignored as it has been for all these years? The example of the Batavia trial speaks eloquently of this. In 1946, the Batavia trial took place in Chocata, Indonesia. That was the only military tri- bunal concerning the sexual victims of the comfort women system, and the Batavia trial convicted Washio Awochi and other Japanese war criminals for kidnapping Dutch nurses and forcing them into sexual slavery.

Awochi was sentenced to 10 years in military prison for his crime. That trial is often cited today as a key legal precedent in prosecution of suspects who organize mass rapes in war time as a crime against humanity. However, the Dutch trial concerns only crimes against nurses, women, who happened to be in Asia at the outbreak of the war.

The fact remains that no Japanese Government official, military official or cooperation was ever prosecute for the far larger, longer running and even more deadly organized crimes committed against hundreds of thousands of Asian women during World War II. In particular, our country, the United States, had clear evidence at the time of the criminal nature and operation of Japan’s systematic sexual slavery of these women and girls yet did not bring charges against those who had persecuted and murdered them.

The Asian Women’s Fund was required that any surviving com- fort women sign legal papers that would end any legal rights she has to seek redress in the courts of any country for the suffering she has faced at the hands of Japanese Government or Japanese cooperation. Similarly the supposed called atonement fund was re- fused to pay damages to the families of comfort women who were murdered during World War II or died during the 50-plus years be- tween 1945 and when the fund was created.

Also, there is an easier way to understand why the statements are inadequate from the formal apologies. These are all as I say full of euphemisms that have the effect of concealing the truth. None of the statements mention the word like rape or slavery, kid- napping, imprisonment or the summary of execution of women and girls. Equally important none of the statements say frankly that this treatment of tens of thousands women and girls were author- ized and organized at the highest level of the Japanese Imperial government and the military, a face that by now has been clearly established.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Soh follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF OK CHA SOH, PH.D., PRESIDENT , WASHINGTON COALITION FOR COMFORT WOMEN ISSUES

We see the present through the past and see the future through the present.

The term ‘‘Comfort Women’’ is a euphemism referring to young women and girls who were tricked or abducted into sexual slavery during World War II by the Japa- nese Imperial government’s Ken Pei Tai security police and the Imperial Military. The total number of victims is unknown. Most experts agree that as many as 200,000 women and girls became sexual slaves in an international network of broth- els and rape camps organized under Japanese government sponsorship for use by Japanese officers and enlistees. The large majority of the victims were Koreans, but the Japanese military also captured and used Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Dutch, and Indonesian women in this system. This wartime rape has been identified as a war crime and as a crime against fundamental human rights. It is simultaneously recognized as a form of slavery and trafficking in women and children.

Over six decades have passed since the end of World War II, yet the atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army still remain as grief and sorrow in the heart of each individual; the wounds of the victims are yet to be healed. It has been almost 15 years since we began to pay attention to the long-concealed history of sex slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army. Stripped of their dignity and robbed of their honor even in their home countries, surviving Comfort Women were forced for many years to live their lives under the veil of shame, silently shouldering the burden of their horrific experience.

It is indeed difficult for them to stand up as witness to the crimes committed against them. The consequences of revealing their long-kept stories may lead to em- barrassment and pain. Nevertheless, they broke the silence to proclaim that they can not die in peace unless they receive an official apology and reparations from the Japanese government during their life time. To resolve the issue of sexual slavery during WWII, the surviving Comfort Women strenuously knocked on the doors of the United Nations, the International Labor Organization, numerous non-govern- mental organizations, and many other international human right groups. As a re- sult, many international organizations have repeatedly petitioned the Japanese gov- ernment to accept its responsibilities and to extend appropriate reparations to the victims

Thus far, the Japanese government has largely ignored these recommendations and has failed to come forward with a minimally adequate apology, as I will disclose in a moment. The handful of surviving victims today are still anxiously awaiting justice. Time is running out for these women because the survivors are advanced in age. They have waited a very long time. We believe they should wait no longer.

As time passes by, more and more victims are passing away.

Racial, Ethnic, and Class Discrimination against Comfort Women Overall, the Comfort Women system, defined as sexual slavery, is clearly an inter- national crime regardless the ethnic and racial background of the individual Com- fort Women. The women were treated as objects and used as property, deprived of their free will and liberty, and forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese Im- perial Army. But in addition to this, there is ample evidence of pervasive and often violent discrimination within the Comfort Women system. . Women of non-Japanese or non-European origin were generally treated even worse in terms of conditions of life in the comfort stations. They face beatings and summary execu- tions much more often. The evidence shows that indigenous women were treated most brutally of all. In short, the Japanese discriminated according to race, eth- nicity, and poverty.

There was also post-war racial discrimination of Comfort Women by the Allied forces, including the United States. At the end of World War II, the Japanese were defeated. Naturally, the power of dealing with the war crimes was in the hands of Allied forces, the United States. If those 200,000 girls and women who were subject to this brutal sexual slavery had been primarily European or American whites, do you think that the issue of the surviving Comfort Women would have kept ignored as it has been for all these years?

The example of the Batavia Trial speaks eloquently for this. In 1946, an Allied Military Tribunal convicted Washio Awochi and other Japanese war criminals for kidnapping Dutch nurses and forcing them into sexual slavery. Awochi was sen- tenced to ten years in military prison for his crime. That trial is often cited today as a key legal precedent in prosecution of suspects who organize mass rapes in war time as a crime against humanity. However, the Allied Tribunal concerned only crimes against Dutch women who happened to be in Asia at the outbreak of the war. Awochi surely deserved punishment for crimes against these women. Neverthe- less, the fact remains that no Japanese government official, military officer or cor- poration was ever prosecuted for the far larger, longer-running, and even more deadly organized crimes committed against hundreds of thousands of Asian women during World War II. In particular, the Intelligence Services of our country, the United States, had clear evidence at the time of the criminal nature and operation of Japan’s systematic sexual slavery of these women and girls, yet the U.S. did not bring charges against those who had persecuted and murdered these women.

It is no secret that at that time there were pervasive, demeaning stereotypes of Asian cultures in general and Asian women in particular that were common in the West. Whether it was intentional or not, these prejudices had the practical effect of protecting the criminals who approved and operated the Comfort Women system of sexual slavery from prosecution for their crimes.

Japan’s continuing refusal to acknowledge responsibility for the war crimes is not only an injustice for surviving comfort women. As important as that is, Japan’s present actions undermine international law, particularly law against organized rape and sexual enslavement during war. This affects not only World War II sur- vivors, but also women from Yugoslavia, Africa, Latin America, and other parts of the world where rape recently has been used a weapon of war. The issue before us today is not simply redress for a historical wrong, it is also essential to the success of future prosecutions of criminals who use rape as a weapon of war. Asian Women’s Fund

The private fund, called the Asian Women’s Fund, was headed by Mrs. Miki Mutusko, widow of former Prime Minister, Miki Takeo. In 1996, she resigned as Chair of the Asian Women’s Fund, protesting her own government’s delay in offer- ing apologies and the lack of sufficient public interest in fund. The fund’s announced goal was to raise $20 million, but actually raised only about one quarter of that. It has issued payments directly to 285 former Comfort Women. The 285 women un- doubtedly represent a very small percentage of former Comfort Women, some in the Philippines and Taiwan, but not many in Korea. The majority of surviving Comfort Women, especially in Korea, refused to accept the funds. There are several reasons for this. The South Korean government and other governments at last began pro- viding old age pensions and medical help to many survivors. For example, equally important, without a minimally acceptable official apology from the Japanese gov- ernment, many Comfort Women regarded the Japanese money as a thinly veiled in- sult—a perception that was re-enforced by public comments from Japanese officials. For quite some time now, the issue of payment of reparations to Comfort Women has not been about the money as such, which is almost negligible in Japan economy. The issue is responsibility. In the absence of an unequivocal spoken apology from the Japanese government, the payment of reparations would not constitute accept- ance of responsibility for past acts. Japan today seeks to avoid payment of repara- tions for the same reason. It has failed to make a clear apology: it is unwilling, or unable, to accept responsibility for the crimes it committed, even in the egregious case of enslavement, rape and murder of thousands of women and girls.

The Asian Women’s Fund requires any surviving Comfort Women to sign legal pa- pers that would end any legal rights she has to seek redress in the courts of any country for the suffering she has faced at the hands of the Japanese government or Japanese corporations. Similarly, the supposed ‘atonement’ fund refuses to pay damages to the families of Comfort Women who were murdered during World War II or died during the 50-plus years between 1945 and when the fund was created. This practice raises questions. If the fund is truly intended to express remorse and atonement for crimes committed, though what sort of logic does it now require the surviving Comfort Women to abandon their rights?

The Asia Women’s Fund is to be disbanded on March 31, 2007, just a few weeks from today.

Apology Issues

The Japanese government has acted specifically to avoid responsibility for clearly recognized international crimes and violations of international humanitarian law, crimes such as mass impressments of women into slavery, trafficking in slaves, or- ganized rape, massacres of Comfort Women in Burma and in other war zones, hor- rific medical ‘treatments’ calculated to induce sterility, torture, and extrajudicial executions of women who refused or became too ill to provide sex to Japanese sol- diers.

During the past 15 years a few Japanese government officials have made near- apology statements regarding Comfort Women issues. Nevertheless, even the per- sonal spokesman for former Prime Minister Murayama specifically denied under questioning that the Prime Minster had acknowledged that there was a ‘system or organization’ committing crimes against these women, and specifically denied that the Japanese Imperial Army was responsible for obvious and well-documented crimes. It is also worth noting that Murayama was the only Prime Minister from an opposition party elected since 1945 and that his term in office was cut short due to rejection by their military and Diet of even his weakly worded statement of re- gret. He failed to obtain support in the Diet for an official apology by a margin of almost 2 to 1. In the end, Murayama’s remorse has been directly rejected by subse- quent governments, who have preferred to water such statements down even fur- ther.

This rejection stance is embraced to this day by many of the most senior figures in the Japanese government, including the increasingly influential armed forces. One of the recent examples is the ongoing rejection of responsibility for war crimes by the current education minister, who has barred textbooks that even mention the abuse of comfort women until the government can come up with an even more in- nocuous explanation for how these were treated.

Ranking members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) speak openly of seeking a ‘biological solution to the Comfort Women problem.’ These men do not face sanc- tions or reprimands from LDP leaders. The ‘biological solution’ group favors refusing to make any acknowledgment of crimes against these Comfort Women, reasoning that once they die, the anger at the Japanese government will die with them. Furthermore, the Japanese government today refuses to assist the U.S. Depart- ment of Justice in identifying World War II-era criminals responsible for crimes against Comfort Women, U.S. prisoners of war, and for biological warfare experi- mentation on prisoners. The U.S. Department of Justice is mandated to exclude such people from traveling to the United States, and has repeatedly requested records and other routine assistance in this task from the Japanese Ministry of Jus- tice. Japan’s government refuses to cooperate. How can this be squared with that government’s claims of accepting responsibility for its WWII era crimes? The excuse that the issue is over 60 years old is also weak. It was not until the 1980s, for example, that the United States formally apologized and paid compensa- tion—$20,000 per person—for the illegal internment of Japanese Americans during the WWII and it took 46 years for the United States fully apologize for its actions. I do not agree that Japan’s current government has ever frankly acknowledged that the Japanese Imperial Army played a central determinative and organizing role in crimes against these Comfort Women. Not even close. Public relations ges- tures simply do not add up to an apology, most particularly when even that gesture has been subsequently rejected by the government.

One standard—and unconvincing—argument is that Japan has already addressed their obligations under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Treaty mandated that Japan enter into reparations agreements with Allied countries, whose terri- tories had been occupied by Japan. The United States negotiated this treaty, while China, Taiwan, and North and South Korea, who were most directly affected by the Japanese war machine, were not allowed to participate. Further, in 1951, cor- respondence with the Dutch government, Japan agreed that the 1951 Treaty did not bar individual damage claims arising form the war. But today, Japan has discarded that statement and now says that such claims are barred by the Treaty. Perhaps most fundamentally, Japan today claims that its government-to-government deals in 1951 have freed it from either moral or legal responsibility to frankly admit, ei- ther in words or in deed, its responsibility for the crimes of the Comfort Women sys- tem. Our view is that the 1951 treaty cannot block private litigation even it was intended to waive reparations between governments.

The Japan-Korea Basic Treaty was signed in 1965. In the Treaty, the issues of Comfort Women were not discussed at that time. Funds paid to Korea under the Treaty were focused on the overall economic modernization of Korea as a whole, rather than for individual compensation.

Comfort Women issues at the U.N. and ILO

The issues of military sexual slavery by Japan was raised at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 1992. Radhika Coomaraswamy (1996) and Gay McDougall (1998), special rapporteurs on systematic rape, sexual slavery, and slavery-like practices during wartime for the Sub-Commission subsequently visited Korea and other Asian countries, interviewing dozens of surviving Comfort Women and experts in inter- national humanitarian law. Their formal reports to the United Nations unequivo- cally stated that Japan has violated international human right laws. Both rec- ommended that Japanese government accept the demands of victims for formal apology and legal reparations. A parallel investigation by the expert committee ap- pointed by the International Labor Organization reached much the same conclu- sions.

Conclusion

Japanese government continues to reject its responsibility for systematic sexual slavery, rape and other crimes against the Comfort Women of WWII. It is in Japan’s own interest, as well as in the best interests of the U.S.-Japanese relations, for the present Japanese government to squarely face its obligations under international law.

We request that the Japanese government openly acknowledge and accept the re- sponsibility for the war crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial government and Army during WWII.

They should open the archives that are now in the Japanese government’s hands of Japan’s Imperial government, military, and corporations and encourage research in these files. They should assist governments around the world in investigating and prosecuting Japanese Imperial-era criminals, particularly those responsible for crimes against Comfort Women. Finally the Japanese government should encourage open study and discussion of Imperial-era Japanese government and military crimes. They should publicly repudiate current Japanese officials who demean and attack surviving Comfort Women, or who promote ‘biological solutions’ to Japan’s historical problems.

Permit me to recall former Congressman Lane Evans, who used to say regarding Comfort Women: ‘‘I believe we have a duty; we have a duty to help those who need our help. We have a duty to stand up for those who cannot stand up for them- selves. . . . Because in the end, people will remember not the words of their en- emies, but the silence of their friends. We must not remain silent.’’ It is our duty that we give those women the dignity and the respect they deserve. Chairman Faleomavaega, thank you once again for the invitation to appear before you today. I will be happy to answer any questions you or the Members of the Sub- committee might have.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Dr. Soh. To my knowledge I be- lieve this is probably the first time ever that Congress has ever held a hearing on this subject matter, and I do not say this as a matter of boasting or bragging about it but certainly I wanted to note for the record that this resolution was passed by this com- mittee under the leadership of my dear friend and former chairman of this committee, Henry Hyde, who has retired, a great friend and certainly one of our stalwarts and whom I consider personally as an icon here in the Congress.

And noting also the difference of opinion as expressed by my good friend from California, I just want to let our witnesses and the public know that this is part of the process. We have disagree- ments, and someone once said that we are entitled to our own opin- ions but we certainly should not be entitled to our own facts. Then the question here, are these facts?

But I do want to commend Ms. Kotler and Dr. Soh for your testi- mony and our friends who have traveled so far. I sincerely hope that we will—this subcommittee as well as the Committee on For- eign Affairs—will make some results of this proposed legislation and see what we can do to get the legislation moving within the committee, and hopefully that issue will be brought before the floor of the house for consideration.

Yes, there have been issues. There are concerns. If this resolu- tion is going to affect our relationship with Japan, I do not like the idea that somehow it is going to ruin our relationship with Japan. I think Japan is better than that, its leaders and the good people that live there. I have been to Japan several times, mainly because I have relatives who are Sumo wrestlers. One of them who retired a couple of years ago is a cousin of mine. He weighed only 570 pounds, and he wrestled by the name of Koniski.

So I do have a very fond affection for the Japanese people but as an institution or as a government, I think this is where we have to look at as a matter of what the government needs to do as an institution to address this very issue. I wanted to ask, Ms. Kotler, I noted with interest that you went point-by-point on all the issues that my good friend Congressman Rohrabacher expressed on the contrary saying that all these things have already been done. That we are reinventing the wheel so-to-speak. Why are we going through the process?

What I want to ask, Ms. Kotler, is there anything else that you think that is important that we should look at closely not only in terms of the provisions of the proposed resolution but any other issue that you feel that will be helpful also to the members of the committee and especially to my colleague, Congressman Honda, that we may have missed?

Ms. KOTLER. I would have to go back and look at the resolution again. I think in general it was quite well done, and putting the word unequivocal was essential. What I would do is look again at what we are expecting in terms of an apology. We need to make it very clear it is from the Government of Japan not just merely a blanket apology because yes, there have been apologies but not one of them can be considered an apology directly to the comfort women. Yes, Mr. Murayama as prime minister had but it was a blanket apology in general.

There have been actually 40 some—in fact, you can count them which is sort of sad—apologies in terms of World War II and the Greater East Asian War, because you are not really just talking 1941 to 1945. You are really talking 1931, 1932. I would look very carefully and with a scholar of the Japanese political system to word the sentence about what you want exactly from the Govern- ment of Japan.

Mr. HONDA. I think you hit it on the head. It would be helpful if you helped us wordsmith in Japanese the wording that would be unequivocal and unambiguous, and then the process I think you laid out that it has to be an action of the Diet and then the prime minister and the Cabinet. So with your work and with the scholars that you are working with it would be helpful to us.

Ms. KOTLER. They all have Ph.D.’s.

Mr. H ONDA. That is okay as long as they are correct. Thank you.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Dr. Soh?

Ms. S OH. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. I think you did address also the question of the apology question, and again I just wanted to note if you feel that there are any other provisions of the proposed resolution that you feel that maybe we could make improvements on? We do in- tend to continue collaborations with our Republican friends and those because this truly is a bipartisan resolution, and I am so happy that you also quoted the statements made by our former col- league, Lane Evans, a very dear friend of mine. And we are just saddened by losing him and for him not coming back because of his illness.

You had made an interesting quote in the latter part of your statement saying that in the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. I think that was from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ms. S OH. You are right.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. And so correct and very appropriate in terms of where is the commitment. One of the concerns that was brought to my attention is the fact that do we have the right to tell another sovereign country what to do? Now we can internalize and say now if the comfort women were done here in America, then this is something that is internal or domestic and that we have to do it by way of the Congress and all of this but we are telling a sovereign nation get with the program. Do something. And I won- der if it has been questioned by some of our friends to suggest that do we have the right to do this?

Ms. S OH. I think as a member of U.S. Congress we are living for the global justice and living for the helping we said those that need help. It does not have to be necessarily happen to be in Japan be- cause the issue has been long overdue already and also by inter- national like you, United Nations, ILO. Also the International Commission of Jurists. So a lot of issues. We have been waiting too long.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. Ms. Kotler?

Ms. K OTLER. The resolution is not a law. You cannot enforce it. It is a suggestion. It is a suggestion of one ally to the next. It is a suggestion that Japan live up to the treaties that it has signed of the organizations that it is a member of from the OECD and the G7 and all the organizations which it has signed on and supported to say it is against sexual violence in conflict. That it supports human security, human rights, democracy. So we are suggesting.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. Does not the United Nations also have as a matter of principle——

Ms. K OTLER. 1325.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA [continuing]. The rights of women?

Ms. KOTLER. To be exact. Yes. In fact, Japan is one of the small groups of nations that is promoting and considered a special friend of 1325, and the quote that I said from the Ambassador was in sup- port of 1325.

Mr. F ALEOMAVAEGA. Mike?

Mr. H ONDA. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I certainly second every- thing that has been said. And just to reiterate again, when I was in the State Assembly we struggled with AJR 27 which met with a lot of resistance, but was passed unanimously by voice vote. I was told at that time that I was merely a State Representative, and I do not have anything to do with international foreign rela- tions, but we passed it anyway, asking Congress to pass a similar resolution.

They picked it up. I am here today, and so in our current position we continue to push the resolution to encourage Japan again to do the right thing as an ally, and Congress has a purview of not only domestic but also foreign relations. So we are in the right arena, doing the right thing, asking the right questions.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I thank the gentleman. I want to thank our panel and our distinguished witnesses, and especially our dear friends who have traveled so far to come all the way here in Wash- ington, DC, to get the snow which I hate. I know exactly how you feel. I hate this. It is not that I hate the snow but I just do not like the cold. I would rather be eating my coconuts and strumming my ukulele under a coconut tree than being here I will tell you that.

But I sincerely do want to say that—as I have said earlier—I do not know of any words that I could express what I have heard from Ms. O’Herne and Ms. Kim and Ms. Lee. I hope it will be as a lesson to our community of nations, learning from the past, but more than anything looking to the future that we hope just as we have wit- nessed the Holocaust Museum, and I think the phrase that I got from that experience in going through was never again.

I think that is the phrase that I hope that if as a result that we might create a positive result, and hopefully also in a constructive way in dealing with the leaders of the Japanese Government that they will see your point of view and in such a way that they will respond in a positive way and appreciating and understanding the depth of what you had to endure for all these years.

And I do have every intention to call on the leadership of our committee to see that we do move this legislation in the best way possible and collaboration also with my deer friend from California during this. I am sorry. I wish had some kahlua pig to give you for your journey. I feel helpless in not offering you any food or something to celebrate your coming here but sincerely I really wish you Godspeed on your return to Australia.

I do not know if that is the correct way of pronouncing, Ms. O’Herne, but you will definitely hear from us on this issue. That I promise, and with that, the subcommittee hearing is adjourned. [Whereupon, at 4:43 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

A P P E N D I X

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DONALD A. MANZULLO , A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

I question whether the United States House of Representatives is the proper forum to address historical grievances between third parties. While House Resolu- tion 121 is well intentioned, I fail to see how it will do anything to provide closure to the survivors of this situation, and I fear this resolution could pit ally against ally and American citizens against each other.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GARY L. ACKERMAN , A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK , AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA

I want to thank and commend the Chairman, Mr. Faleomavaega for holding to- day’s hearing. I also want to commend our colleague Mr. Honda for introducing his resolution and for carrying on the work of our former colleague Lane Evans to bring attention to the issue of comfort women and their families. Mr. Chairman, every August our nation and other nations across the globe pause to remember the end of the most horrific conflict of the 20th Century. Yet for a small and dwindling number of women, that conflict never ended. During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army forced as many as 200,000 women across Asia into sexual slavery. The vast majority of these women were from Korea but all of the women were subjected to unspeakable crimes for years at a time at the hands of Japanese soldiers. The fact that ‘‘comfort women’’ existed and the fact they were abused as a deliberate policy of the Imperial Japanese Army are not in dispute.

These facts have been documented by war crimes tribunals, the United Nations and even the government of Japan has acknowledged the abusive treatment of ‘‘comfort women.’’ The Japanese government and many Japanese citizens have worked hard to establish the Asian Women’s Fund to extend ‘‘atonement’’ from the Japanese peo- ple to the comfort women, but I don’t think compensation is the total issue. The issue is that while successive Japanese Prime Ministers have written per- sonal letters of apology to the surviving comfort women, no Prime Minister has made a public apology on behalf of the Japanese government. Beyond that, it seems the gestures that have been made don’t strike the intended recipients as genuine. There are two issues here that make today’s hearing important and Mr. Honda’s resolution necessary. The first is that all of the comfort women deserve an apology and acceptance of responsibility that they perceive as genuine. The second is that calling attention to such atrocities reminds us in the Congress as well as the rest of international community, that we must continue the work of preventing them from ever occurring again.

Mr. Chairman, I think all of us wish a clear and unequivocal public apology had been issued and accepted long ago and that the pain and suffering endured by these women had been appropriately acknowledged and responsibility taken by the Japa- nese government, but until it is, I think it is incumbent on us to continue to speak out.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DIANE E. WATSON , A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Thank you, Chairman Faleomavaega, for holding this important and historic hearing—and I should note your first since being elevated to Chairman of the Asia Subcommittee—on the sexual enslavement of over 200,000 women by the Japanese Imperial Army during its colonial occupation. I also want to thank my friend and colleague, Representative Michael Honda, for providing the leadership in introducing House Resolution 121, a resolution that ex- presses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known as ‘‘Comfort Women,’’ from the 1930s through the duration of World War II.

I commend Mr. Honda for his appreciation and understanding that people, insti- tutions, and governments must take responsibility for their actions, both good and evil, and that apologies on matters of historical import are critical to the process of healing and reconciliation. Knowledge of the past, as well as acknowledgment of the past, is key to understanding the present. To paraphrase Lord Ackton, knowl- edge of the past is the safest and surest emancipation.

So it is in the spirit of emancipation from the past, as well as reconciliation and justice for the so-called Comfort Women, that I am certain Mr. Honda has intro- duced House Resolution 121 and appears here today before the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee. The purpose of H. Res. 121 is not to bash the Government of Japan but rather to speak to truth, to speak to the fact that the historical and current plight of Comfort Women has not been properly witnessed, nor has compensation to the victims been sufficiently provided.

Mr. Honda’s heritage as a Japanese-American and the fact that he lived in a Jap- anese-American internment camp in California during World War II are also perti- nent and instructive. Approximately 40 years after internment, the U.S. Govern- ment formally apologized for its role and offered reparations. No nation’s hands are clean when it comes to human rights violations. We cannot selectively speak or seek the truth. We must speak it and seek it wherever it lies. Japan is an important ally of the United States. That will not change. But I am certain that Japan’s bilateral, as well as multilateral relations, will be strengthened, particularly on the Asian continent, when it fully and with due diligence confronts its past. By honestly and openly facing its past, Japan will enrich its future. In closing, Mr. Chairman, I also want to thank the women who lived through the horrifying experience of enslavement and have traveled a long distance to offer their testimony to the Subcommittee today.

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