Remedying 'Enforced Sexual Slavery': Validating Victims' Reparation Claims against Japan

• Author: Seong Phil Hong
• Position: Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Yonsei University School of Law, Seoul, Korea
• Pages: 175-194

Korea

175

VI JEAIL 1 (2013)

Seong Phil Hong

∗

It has been over two decades since the Japanese practice of enforced sexual slavery

began to receive widespread attention. Yet despite numerous international efforts

to urge Japan to squarely acknowledge its moral and legal responsibility, there has

been no meaningful progress to resolve this matter. This work revisits the issue

of enforced sexual slavery as it stands today. The Japanese practice of enforced

sexual slavery was a clear violation of international law at the time. Therefore,

individual victims have valid legal claims for reparation against the Japanese

      

of enforced sexual slavery. The remainder summarizes and vindicates the claims

of the victims once again. This research suggests how to remedy the victims’

rights and discusses how to implement reparation. It also contends that Japan

owes reparations and legitimate remedial measures to the victims that go beyond

monetary compensation in line with the rules of contemporary international law.

Keywords

Enforced Sexual Slaves, Crimes against Humanity, Reparation for

Individual Victims, The 1965 Korea-Japan Agreement, The San

Francisco Peace Treaty

Remedying 󼚬Enforced

Sexual Slavery󼚭: Validating

Victims󼚩 Reparation Claims

against Japan

∗ Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Yonsei University School of Law, Seoul, Korea.

LL.B.(SNU), LL.M.(SNU/Yale). J.S.D. (Yale). The author would like to extend special thanks to Professor Eric

Yong Joong Lee for his comments. The author may be contacted at: hsphil@gmail.com / Address: 50 Yonsei-ro,

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749 Korea.

REGIONAL FOCUS & CONTROVERSIES

2013-05-27 󱹙󲻹 3:46:53

176 Seong Phil Hong

1. Introduction

The practice of 󼚬enforced sex slavery (󼚬ESS󼚭)

1

during World War II by the Japanese

military left victims of crimes against humanity who, over the last 70 years, have

been denied a remedy. Germany has acknowledged its role in committing atrocities,

      



2

Despite repeated international efforts, including resolutions from the US

Congress,

3

     

Nobusuke Kishi, 󼚨󼚩 war criminal and a former prime minister of Japan, is

again moving to withdraw a 1993 admission of the historicity of ESS.

4

Over time, the

number of registered Korean victims has decreased from 234 to 58.

5

The conventional position and arguments of the Japanese administration, and

its judiciary

6

are confusing and contradictory, with recurring 󼚨even-ifs.󼚩

7

Ever since

1 Former

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly stated that the ‘comfort women’ should be referred to as

“enforced sex slaves.” See Staff Writer, Clinton says ‘Comfort Women’ Is Incorrect Term, CHOSUN DAILY, Jul. 9,

2012, available at http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/07/09/2012070900793.html (last visited on Apr.

19, 2013).

2 Kyoko Kishimoto, Apologies for Atrocities: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of World War II’s End in the

United States and Japan, 42 AM. STUDIES INT’L 40 (2004). For a concise look at Japan’s ‘struggle,’ see Shuko Ogawa,

The Difficulty of Apology: Japan’s Struggle with Memory and Guilt, 22 HARV. INT’L REV. 42-46 (2000). For the

collective sentiment of resistance among the Japanese public, see Onuma Yasuaki, Japanese War Guilt and Postwar

Responsibilities of Japan, 20 BERKELEY J. INT’L L. 604-606 (2002).

3 In 2007, the U.S. Congress adopted a resolution acknowledging Japan’s sexual enslavement of Asian women.

Recently, the New York State Senate unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Japan’s wartime mobilization

of Asian sex slaves for the Imperial Army. It was the second state legislature to adopt such a resolution after the

California State Assembly in 1999. See Staff Writer, New York Senate ‘Comfort Women’ Resolution, CHOSUN DAILY,

Jan. 31, 2013, available at http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/31/2013013101197.html (last visited

on May 8, 2013).

4 Staff Writer, U.S. Warns Japan Over ‘Comfort Women,’ CHOSUN DAILY, Jan. 07, 2013, available at http://english.

chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/07/2013010700460.html (last visited on May 8, 2013). See also Staff Writer,

Scrap Japan’s Admissions of Guilt, Says Ex-PM, CHOSUN DAILY, Aug. 29, 2012, available at http://english.chosun.

com/site/data/html_dir/2012/08/29/2012082900659.html (last visited on May 8, 2013).

5 Dong Bin Yun, Keum-Joo Hwang, a Korean victim of the enforced sexual slavery, passed by…the numbers of the

remaining victims have decreased to 58 (󰋞 󰅪 󱂞󱃖󰋲 󱇋󰑞 󱃂 󱎹󰊢 󰏖󰋲 58), CHOSUN DAILY,

Jan. 3, 2013, available at http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/01/03/2013010302466.html (last visited on

May 8, 2013).

6 For a poignant criticism of the state-centric approach of the Japanese judiciary, see M. Levin, Japan-China Joint

Communiqué of 1972-San Francisco Peace Treaty Article 14(b)-individual victims Of Japanese wartime forced

labor and sexual slavery-World War II restorative justice- denial of right to compensation in domestic litigation, 102

AM. J. INT’L L. 148 (2008).

7 See Views of the Government of Japan on the addendum 1 to the report presented by the Special Rapporteur on

violence against women. U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1996/53/Add.1.

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