A panel discussion took place on May 3, 2016, at OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), faculty of the University of Toronto. The topic was: “The Apology: Colonial and Militarized Sexual Violence Against Women”. The event was sponsored by The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education of OISE/UT, ALPHA Education, Centre for the Study of Korea (UT) and a few other institutions. The participants included: Tiffany Hsiung, creator of the documentary “The Apology” that attacks Japan’s handling of the “comfort women” issue; the “comfort woman” survivor Gil Won Ok; Yoon Meehyang, feminist activist and a director of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan; Judy Cho from ALPHA as a translator; a feminist activist from Iraq; a woman victim of violence from Congo. The discussion was moderated by Angela Lytle, a feminist and pro-Korean activist.
Angela Lytle
Two things should be noted here. First, OISE is an institution with an extreme leftist agenda. There are many professors there who openly support Marxism. They are very hostile toward the developed countries (including Canada) claiming that all their achievements are the result of colonial exploitation. For example, at every event at the University of Toronto they make a statement (Ms. Lytle did the same here) that they are standing on Indian (native) land that is still colonized. The truth is that the Indians sold the land centuries ago, but the goal is to humiliate Canada. The inclusion of the “comfort women” issue in a discussion was an attempt to treat Japan in the same way.
Tiffany Hsiung, creator of the documentary “The Apology”
Second, beside the Korean women, who discussed an old event, they included in the panel two women affected by current events. The Arab woman spoke about kidnapping of women to be raped or sold as sex slaves by locals and Americans after the US invasion of 2003. The woman from Congo spoke about the war’s effects on women in her country (and that’s a civil war, which has nothing to do with colonialism). Such a discussion created the impression that now Japan is as bad as the two lawless countries, Iraq and Congo.
Yanar Mohammed from Iraq and Winnie Muchuba from Congo
Both Ms. Hsiung and Ms. Yoon emphasized in their presentations the testimonies about the war events. They repeated the claim of the 200,000 Korean women abducted by the Japanese government. They were forced to perform sex services in the countries occupied by Japan (along with women from other nationalities). Most of them were too ashamed to admit that they were sexually assaulted, that’s why it took so many years to uncover the truth. Their organizations so far have found about 500 survivors and most of them are losing their memories or want to forget the events.
the “comfort woman” survivor Gil Won Ok
Some of the examples of Ms. Yoon were quite odd. She claimed that Ms. Gil (present at the panel) was abducted at the age of 13, but that was in lunar year, so she was actually 11. Another girl, aged 15, was so exhausted that they had to give her drugs every day. When she showed up at Yoon’s organization in 1995, she still had marks from the needles. (That was too much – no needle scars can survive from the 1930’s to 1995.)
Ms. Yoon said that after the earthquake in Japan in 2011 many women from the disaster area have been raped and her organization provided material support to the victims – $50,000 – and also sent them packages with underwear with a message from the surviving “comfort women” in each package. They also pursue for alleged rapes by Korean soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. Shinzo Abe is refusing to face the “truth” because his grandfather was supposedly a war criminal. The apology of December, 2015, was not enough – they want the Japanese to accept full guilt and provide more money. They are also expected to change the history textbooks to reflect the guilt.
I was curious about their fact sources and asked about them during the Q&A session. I also asked about the information about the Japanese women allegedly raped after the earthquake, because that was not covered in the press. She said regarding the former that a crucial evidence was a report commissioned by General MacArthur in 1945: “Amenities in the Japanese Armed Forces”. As of the second question, Ms. Yoon said that they got the information from women’s organizations in Japan.
A friend of mine asked about additional proof. She quoted books on the issue which revealed that the women were recruited for pay and the ages of the women wanted ranged from 17 to 30 years, thus it was very unlikely to recruit an 11-year old girl.
The reply showed clearly that the militant lefty feminists are not fond of rational discussion. Ms. Yoon became visibly irritated and said that the testimonies of the victims are much more important than books. The moderator accused my friend of disrupting the event – this was supposed to be a “safe political space” where the “victims” are celebrated and not questioned. The Arab woman on the panel also chimed in, saying that my friend was a “state feminist” trying to attack their cause. That is the level of the academic discourse in Canada, where educational institutions are controlled by leftist fanatics. What makes an argument with them very difficult is that they reject outright facts that disprove their agenda. They keep the discussion based on emotions and personal attacks against the opponent. Since those people are very aggressive in promoting their views, they create the impression in politicians that they are influential.
After I came home, I found General MacArthur’s report online.(*) It doesn’t prove sexually slavery at all. Though the wartime brothels could be considered immoral, the women working in them (Japanese, Korean and Chinese) were anything but slaves. They were paid and encouraged by the authorities to save money. If the Korean activists find the document so important, it is strange that the Japanese side doesn’t use it to prove its points.
Also, another venue of proving them wrong is to go after the claim of the 200,000 abducted women. Japan may demand lists and backgrounds of those women, if the Korean government insists that the claim is true.
(*) reference materials
Amenities in the Japanese Armed Forces
I.G.No. 6310
B.I.D.No. 1228
DATE OF ISSUE 15 November 1945
MacArthur Document Reports Imperial Japanese Military’s “Sanction” of Comfort Women Brothels
By Dennis Halpin
US・KOREA INSTITUTE AT SAIS August 15, 2013
＜VIDEO＞
“Comfort Women” Panel Discussion at OISE (University of Toronto)
https://vimeo.com/165920935/9821db3376