FALSE ACCUSATION OF COMFORT WOMEN

Newspaper Articles Published during Annexation Years

June 23, 2015
Moguro Fukuzou

The following data show the number of policemen in Korea, 1938. As the data demonstrate, the Korean police officers made up 40% of the total number of officers. How is it possible that the Japanese Army and/or Authority take away young girls or women by force to brothels either in Manchuria or elsewhere without their protests? Actually, Koreans and Japanese worked side-by-side in their effort of law enforcement and cracking down upon kidnappers (contrary to the common mistaken notion of Japan-bashers, who constantly claim Japan did all sorts of evils in Annexation Years, all such kidnapping offenses were committed by Koreans) as the newspaper articles published in those days clearly show below.

Number of Policemen in Korea, 1938
(Source: Governer-General Office of Statistics,1938)
	Koreans	Japanese
警視 Inspector	9	62
警部 Captain	89	388
警部補 Lieutenant	157	738
巡査 Police Officer	8,542	11,784

Reception Hall of a Police HQ,1939	Honcho Police Headquarters in Seoul,1938

It was Korean men and women who kidnapped women and girls in Korea. It was Japan-organized Police who had made crackdown efforts on the crimes!
Shame on your blame-shifting to the Japanese Army/ Authority, Koreans!

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Attack on Pink Party Den

Dawn of conscience in errand’s mind takes off the masks of dignitaries

May 13, 1939, Asahi Shimbun Central Korea Edition

[Abstruct]
A young girl ran into the Honcho Police HQ in early morning of the 12th day, weeping and exhausted, asking for help. A few questions on her situation revealed the existence of a large-scale Pink Party Den.

Her name is Ko Ren-ko employed by Che Minko as a housemaid. After she began to live in the Che family in March last year, she soon noticed the wily nature of her female boss Che. Che was actually a sex broker using her own house as a Pink Party Den. She employed numerous girls, such as department store sales girls, nurses and female office clerks, etc. in order to provide sex services for company VIPs using the girl Ko as an errand. As Ko grew up she began to feel apprehension on the work and finally tried to escape. Captured Ko was hit and kicked but as she felt the living condition unbearable, ran again into the Police HQ seeking for help. The Honcho Police immediately made a raid on the den and arrested Che and all there. The dark side of Seoul will be exposed soon.

Author’s Note:
Notice in the story that the girl Ko considers the Police is reliable and trustworthy.

Suspects of Organized Kidnapping of Women and Girls Sent to Prosecutor

Ringleader is former Pusan Gov. Part-time Employee

November 21, 1939, Asahi Shimbun South Korea Edition: [Abstruct]
Pusan Police arrested Kim Tou-jun, former part-time employee of the Pusan Municipal Government along with 77 others on suspicion of forgery and exercise of official seals and official documents for fraud of abduction of many young girls. The investigation was finalized on 21st and they were sent to the Prosecutor Office. Police announced as many as 28 girls were abducted and many others were kidnapped to be taken away to the Southern Pacific. Police announced Kim Tou-jun and 9 others are placed in custody and Recommendation for Indictment was given to 11 suspects. Prosecutor Office decided indictment for 5 suspects to be deferred, 6 to be suspended, and not to indict 55.

Evil Criminals Sneaked onto Village Girls

Many tricked into abduction to sell-off
Terrible Crime Revealed

March 30, 1939 Asahi Shimbun South Korea Edition

[Abstruct]
As the interrogation of Kim Ou-man proceeds, The number of the victims by the terrible human trafficking of the Kim family is now beyond 100. He roamed through the poor families in villages and used such coax as he would raise the girl as his foster daughter, but forged the Power of Attorney to sell the girl to Manchuria. The result of the interrogation was so shocking, the police has determined to intensify its law enforcement activities under close cooperation with other police HQ stations.

Author’s Note:
Actually, it was Korean men who were kidnappers.

A Whole Family Arrested for Kidnapping Village Girls

Police raid released 12 confined girls

March 28, 1939 Asahi Shimbun South Korea Edition

[Abstruct]
Criminal investigation of Seoul East Gate Police HQ discovered that Kim family of 5 members has conspired for kidnapping girls from rural villages since 4 years ago. The raid of the Police HQ arrested Kim Ou-man, the family boss and another of the family and released 12 girls confined in the house. Three are on the run and the Police are chasing them. According to the Police, the number of victims seems to be at least 50.

Kidnapper Pretends to be a Milady

kidnapped 28 girls across Korea using 4 underlings

March 1, 1938, Asahi Shimbun South Korea Edition: [Abstruct]
Kim Fukujun, 35, was arrested and taken into custody by the Shoro Street Police in Seoul and is now under investigation with the charge of kidnapping 28 young girls across Korea using 4 underlings. According to the recent release of the police, she abandoned and left her husband in Taegu to go to Seoul and used her beauty to pretend to be a high born lady for kidnapping. Using her lover Ri Shin-gyoku as the supervisor of other kidnappers, Kim abducted 28 young girls across Korea including a case of Ri To-jun, 17, who was taken away from the anteroom of Taegu Station. The female boss appeared at a procurer’s office in Seoul in person and sold off the 17-year-old girl for 15 Yen. Buying back and selling off the girl again and again, she finally sold the girl for 150 Yen at the 24th of such procurers.

Kidnappings of Women and Girls by Bad Procurers Rampant in Rural Villages

August 31, 1939, Toa Daily News: [Abstruct]
Bad Procurers are roaming in poverty stricken rural areas and cheating village women and girls at will saying Manchuria is in economic boom. Recently in Pusan, it is said that 45 procurers coaxingly kidnapped more than 100 women and girls in a conspiracy to sell them off to Manchuria. Pusan Police discovered one such case and dispatched Lieutenant Yu and a group of detectives to Mukden in a hurry to arrest a procurer. It is surmised that capture and interrogation of the procurer will reveal the full scope of their devilish activities.

Man and Woman Kidnapped Girls on Street to Sell off to Chinese Brothel Operators Arrested by Seoul Police

June 30, 1933, Toa Daily News: [Abstruct]
The detectives of Seoul Shoro HQ arrested a man and two women who kidnapped girls on the street to sell them off to Chinese brothel operators.

Brothel Operator Arrested for Forgery of Family Domicile and Forced Prostitution of Young Girl

May 5, 1933, Toa Daily News

[Abstruct]
The Police arrested a man named O Se-kan, an operator of a brothel called Kan-nan-rou and the investigation revealed that the man had bought a 16-year-old girl for 350 won on 5th of the previous month and, knowing that the girl is not still the age eligible to work as a Kisaeng prostitute, he forged a family domicile using the register of the girl’s elder sister in order to obtain her license. The police consider the man had committed the similar crimes of purchasing young girls and forgery of papers for his business of brothel operation.

Note:
Japan imposed the law prohibiting the girl less than 18 years of age to engage in prostitution (same as in Japan) while it was commonplace that 15 ? 16 year-old girls engaged in prostitution in Korea. (Due to the difference of counting the age, 17-year-old is eligible in Korea.)

Pusan Police Station Arrested Man in Foiled Attempt of Deception to Sell Girls of Good Families to Manchuria

December 4, 1938, Toa Daily News: [Abstruct]
Procurer Den To-kan, 58, deceived two young girls who stayed in Moon-star Hotel in Pusan in his attempt to sell them off to Manchuria saying he would introduce to them high-paying jobs. Den forged papers pretending as if he had parental rights over the girls. The Pusan Police detected the crime and arrested the man when they arrived at Gunzan. Den is now under strict investigation as the police consider that the man had committed many other similar crimes of kidnapping young girls from good families.

Provincial Parliament Election Results of May, 1933

The following photo is the “Asahi-Shinbun Korea” (the Korean branch of the present-day Asahi-Shinbun newspaper that existed during the Annexation Era) dated May 11, 1933, showing the election results of the 13 provincial parliaments of Korea. As the newspaper clearly shows, 80 percent of lawmakers successfully elected for the provincial parliament seats in May, 1933 were Korean men.
Even if the Governor-General (Viceroy) of Korea was Japanese, these lawmakers could have checked the conducts of the Govenor-General. In other words, if 200,000 Korean girls were “kidnapped” or “abducted” by the Japanese Army as so claimed by some Koreans, these lawmakers could have protested or checked, or at least recorded in their diaries of the “atrocity.”
You would wonder why NO such written evidences of protests were presented during the negotiation for 1965 Basic Treaty between Japan and Korea and are even today by the Korean government. This clearly means that the comfort women were considered normal way of everyday life and nothing atrocious.

Click to enlarge

Other Publications

The following table is copy of a page of “Photo Album Korea” published in 1921. The table shows the number of civil servants and public officials working for municipal, city, and township/village government offices.
Remarkably, 11 years after the annexation, most of the civil servants working for the township/village governments are Koreans. The number of Japanese civil servants was only 100 and its percent composition is negligible small (0.002%).
As the article of provincial parliament election results of 1933 above shows, it is clear that Koreans actively participated in the modernization efforts led by Governor-General of Korea and developed their ability to become the owner of their own country.
Then, how is it possible that Japanese Army and/or Authority officials round-up or take way "as many as 200,000 women and girls" without being noticed by those Korean civil servants and Korean policemen? There is no record of consternation, civil protests or commotion of any kind ever presented by the Korean government or people in the form of public records, newspaper articles, private diary, or whatever. It is just absurd, period.

F. Moguro, Yokohama Japan

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