Court rulings from 1938 show how Japanese authorities imprisoned individuals for talking about ‘comfort women’

A 1938 court ruling released by Yeongam County [YONHAP]

 
Newly released court rulings from 1938 have revealed that residents of Yeongam County, South Jeolla, were punished by Japanese colonial authorities for accusing them of the forced mobilization of “comfort women.” 
 
The term comfort women is use describe a group of women, largely Korean, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II.
 
 
The local government said Monday it had confirmed two court rulings from the Japanese colonial era that criminally punished residents for talking to others about the forced mobilization. 
 
The cases date back to 1938, the year after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), and detail how local residents were punished for talking about the mobilization of comfort women by the Japanese military.
  
The county said it confirmed the facts through original rulings and translations held by the National Archives of Korea, which is under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
 
The Jangheung branch of the Gwangju District Court under Japanese rule sentenced four residents of Yeongam to prison in two separate rulings on Oct. 7 and Oct. 27, 1938, for “spreading groundless rumors” in violation of the Military Penal Code, according to the rulings released by the county.
 

Statues of victims of the Japanese military’s wartime sexual slavery are displayed at the House of Sharing in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 12, 2023, two days ahead of the anniversary of the International Memorial Day for Japanese Military Comfort Women. [NEWS1]

 
The Oct. 7 ruling states that Song Myeong-sim, a resident of Deokjin-myeon, Yeongam, heard from a man named Yeong Mak-dong on Aug. 8, 1938, that “in order to support the Imperial Japanese Army, unmarried women and widows between the ages of 12 and 40 were being recruited to be sent to Manchuria, so there will be many marriages after this year’s farming season.”
 
It refers to an incident on Aug. 15 where Song had heard that her 15-year-old daughter had been counted as part of the mobilization scheme. She visited the foreman and protested, saying, “I’ve heard women are being recruited to support the Imperial Army — is this for that purpose?”
 
Song and Yeong were arrested for violating the Military Penal Code and sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years.
 

Mourners pay respect at the funeral fall for Gil Won-ok, a survivor of the Japanese military’s wartime sexual slavery, at a funeral hall at Incheon Red Cross Hospital in Yeonsu District, Incheon, on Feb. 17. Gil died on Feb. 16 at the age of 97. She dedicated her life to raising awareness of the plight of the so-called comfort women, referring to young girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule over Korea. There are now seven surviving comfort women victims in the country, or 240 who had registered with the government. [YONHAP]

 
According to the Oct. 27 ruling, a resident surnamed Han from Seongsan-ri, Dobo-myeon, Yeongam, told a man surnamed Lee, “They are recruiting unmarried women to support the Imperial Army in China.”
 
After hearing this, Lee warned others, saying, “If you have daughters, marry them off quickly. The authorities are recruiting unmarried women to support the Imperial Army, and in the Naju area, three to four unmarried women have already been sent to China.”
 
Lee was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for three years, while Han received four months in prison, suspended for two years.
 
The county said this is the first time court rulings have confirmed that the Japanese colonial government punished residents for revealing facts about the comfort women system in an attempt to conceal it.
 
“We will try to locate the descendants of those who were unjustly punished and see if there is a way to award them state honors,” said Yeongam County Mayor Woo Seung-hee.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]