1000th Wednesday Protest, and a Comfort Woman's Story

[the_gabih]

First, a little bit of background. As many of the readers know, although the Japanese government recognized its responsibility for Imperial Japan's hand in forcibly recruiting Comfort Women, the Japanese government has not yet made any compensation out of government funds.

Some of the surviving Comfort Women in Korea -- there are only 63 of them,

Comments

[soleiltropiques]

That is so sad. Those poor women.

Japan has never really dealt with its WWII history. Just a few years ago, China was (understandably) upset with Japan because it came out that Japanese history books used in Japanese schools don't even mention what they did during that time.

Another aspect of the WWII history of Japan pertains to the veterans of various Allied nations... I remember seeing a documentary on Canadian veterans who were put into slave labor camps. Many didn't survive, and of those who did, a great many had permanent health problems as a result of the way they were treated.

As a side note, it is of interest to examine the failure of successive Canadian governments where supporting these veterans is concerned: the Mulroney government (i.e. during the 1980s) essentially promised the Japanese that they would never put pressure on them to pay compensation to the former Canadian POWs. (Of course, I'm not saying Canada was blameless during WWII.)

I have to wonder just how supportive the Korean government has been where these poor women are concerned. My personal expectation would be not very.