１、慰安婦像には、『わたしは日本軍の性奴隷でした。』“I was a sex slave of Japanese military”と書かれていますが、韓国女性が日本軍によって強制的に売春行為を強いられた歴史的事実は存在しません。慰安婦は、当時、世界で一般的であった公娼制度のもとで働いていたもので、高額な給与が払われており「性奴隷」という言葉もありませんでした。
２、『平和の記念碑』Peace Monumentには、「1923年から1945年にかけて、20万人以上のアジア人とオランダ人の女性たちが、韓国、中国、台湾、日本、フィリピン、タイ、ベトナム、マレーシア、東ティモール、インドネシアの彼女たちの家から拉致され、大日本帝国軍によって強制的に性奴隷にされました。」
In memory of more than 200,000 Asian and Dutch women who were removed from their homes in Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, malaysia, East Timor and Indonesia, to be coerced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan between 1923 and 1945.
とありますが、日本軍が強制的に女性を拉致し慰安婦とした事実は、まったくありません。
なお、ここに一つの決定的と言っていい文章―「米国の公文書」US Office War Information, Psychological Warfare Team attached to the US Army Forces,
India-Burma Theater からのものをご参考までに同封いたします。
これをみれば、慰安婦は、単なる売春婦、又は職業的なキャンプフォロワ―であったこと、強制されたものではなかったことが判ります。さらに彼女達のネットの平均月収は７５０円でした。当時の上等兵の月給が１０円であったのと比較して頂きたいと思います。この公文書によって、グレンデ―ルやその他の市に於いて慰安婦像を建てている人達の主張は完全に否定されていると私達は確信しております。
JAPAN COALITION OF LEGISLATORS AGAINST FABRICATED HISTORY
1-32-6 Koenji Minami
Suginami-ku, Tokyo JAPAN
03-3311-7810
September 6, 2013
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20500
USA
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned legislators representing municipalities all over Japan. We love our country. We are committed to instilling a fair-minded, accurate perception of history in our children, who will shoulder the future of humanity.
It is unlikely that the recent installation of a statue memorializing “comfort women” in Central Park in the City of Glendale, California will help bring about true world peace or protect women’s rights. On the contrary, the distorted view of history that the statue represents and the grossly misapplied term “sex slave” will surely jeopardize world peace and our hopes for a bright future for our children.
We hope that the United States government will, on the basis of the facts outlined below, arrive at a fair, objective judgment and recommend that the comfort woman statue be removed immediately.
The words “I was a sex slave of Japanese military” are engraved on the statue. Please note that the Japanese military authorities never forced Korean women to engage in prostitution. The comfort women were part of a legally sanctioned prostitution system, similar to others in existence throughout the world. They were handsomely remunerated; the word “sex slaves” is an inaccurate description of the comfort women.
Also engraved on the statue is the following: “In memory of more than 200,000 Asian and Dutch women who were removed from their homes in Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, East Timor and Indonesia, to be coerced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan between 1923 and 1945.” However, the Japanese military never abducted women or compelled them to serve as comfort women.
Japan is a nation whose culture places great value on women, as evidenced by the fact that works about romantic love created by women writers such as Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon brought their authors to the fore a millennium ago! Giving credence to the singularly inappropriate term “sex slaves” as though it were historical fact and installing the “comfort woman” statue can only harm relations among the US, Japan, and South Korea.
Since false propaganda has resulted in a great deal of confusion about
the recruitment of comfort women, we would like to set the record
straight. Generally procurers traveled around Korea recruiting women,
whom they then handed over to brokers in large cities. Methods used by
the procurers often involved deceit; for instance, some women were not
told what sort of work they would be doing. The Japanese
Government-General of Korea prosecuted and punished deceitful brokers at
every opportunity. But neither government nor military entities were
involved in any way whatsoever in recruiting the comfort women.
We need to teach our children, the leaders of the future, that war is cruel and peace is precious. We need to teach them that a great number of people sacrificed their lives for their country. It is singularly inappropriate to use the statue of a prostitute as a monument “to remind, educate and enlighten future generations.”
Wars are wretched; they consist of one tragic event after another. However, creating a monument to the comfort women based on an egregious falsehood, i.e., that they were sex slaves, is tantamount to sowing seeds of discord for the future.
We are enclosing, for your information, an unimpeachable document, an official American document emanating from the US Office of War Information, Psychological Warfare Team attached to the US Army Forces, India-Burma Theater. It will inform you that the comfort girls were prostitutes or professional camp followers, that they were not coerced, and that their net monthly earnings were 750 yen on the average. Compare this with the salary of an Army private first class, which was 10 yen. We are certain that this document will discredit the claims made by the sponsors of the statue in Glendale and others like it.
Very truly yours,
MATSUURA Yoshiko, Representative
JAPAN COALITION OF LEGISLATORS AGAINST FABRICATED HISTORY
Assemblywoman, Suginami Ward, Tokyo
９月１日は1923年（大正12年）関東大震災が起こった日ですが、それにちなんでということでしょう、紙面左側が “THE GREAT KANTO EARTHQUAKE ’A SEA OF FIRE’” 「関東大地震 火の海」 という記事で、タイトルの通り関東大震災を紹介する記事です。 右側が韓国自動車会社の起亜自動車（きあじどうしゃ、Kia Motors Corp.）の車のKia Cadenza宣伝広告です。
