United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121

United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 (H.Res. 121) is a resolution about comfort women which Japanese-American Congressman Mike Honda of California's 15th congressional district introduced to the American House of Representatives in 2007. It asks that the Japanese government apologize to former comfort women and include curriculum about them in Japanese schools, citing the 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children that Japan has ratified and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. This resolution was passed on July 30, 2007.

Controversy

Evidence of Forced Drafting Comfort Women: Seiji Yoshida’ s Book

Seiji Yoshida's memoirs were used as an evidence for the roundup of over 1,000 women in Korea in a Congressional Report which was prepared for this resolution.

An early detailed revelation came from Yoshida Seiji, a former Japanese military policeman, who wrote a book in 1983 entitled My War Crimes: The Forced Draft of Koreans in which he described his participation in the roundup of over 1,000 women in Korea for service as "comfort women" to the Japanese military.

Doubts about the basis of resolutions

In addition to citing Seiji Yoshida's book, there are some doubts as to the veracity of the memorandum and testimony upon which this resolution is based.

1. Misrecognition of facts in the Kono statement

The memorandum's author, citing the Kono Statement, claimed that the majority of comfort women were Koreans (p.7). The Kono statement states,”excluding those from Japan, those from the Korean Peninsula accounted for a large part.” This is a serious misrepresentation of fact. If the majority of comfort women were Japanese, the story of "sex slaves" would not hold.

2. Absence of evidence to prove the credibility of Yuki Tanaka's book citation testimony

The author cited the testimony of Yuki Tanaka's book as evidence of "sex slaves," but in order to use the testimony as evidence, it is necessary to present documentary evidence to support its credibility. But the author had presented nothing. Radhika Coomaraswamy, author of the UN report, presented G. Hicks' book, Seiji Yoshida's book and Japanese military brothel regulations as documentary evidence for their testimony.

Asian and Asian dominant countries countries punished those involved in the forced recruitment of comfort women (Netherlands) and rape (Philippines) in post-war courts. An IWG[investigation] published in 2007 found no documents indicating violations of women's human rights.

3. Rebuttal to the interrogation report No.49 as evidence of deception

The net income of the comfort women (150-750 yen per month) was extremely high compared to the wages of the house-maids (11.07 yen per month) under the same payment terms (with meals, room and others) in 1942. It was common sense in society that the work of comfort women was a sex service. The age of the comfort women was 17 years or older as stipulated by the licensed prostitution law, and the owner of the comfort station was Korean couple with Japanese names who were professionals in the licensed prostitution. The comfort women and their families signed contracts with the comfort station owner, and the families received an advance payment. The gross monthly income of comfort women was above 300 yen, which was consistent with newspaper advertisements for comfort women at the time. The fact that there was a difference in income is proof that the market principle was at work in the comfort women's work. No.49 proves that "comfort women were licensed prostitutes.”

4. Credibility of former comfort women's testimony

Three former comfort women (one Dutch and two Koreans) testified. The Dutch woman's testimony indicates a violation of military regulations by military. Two months after the comfort station where she had been forced into prostitution opened, the high-ranking officer who came to inspect the internment camp learned of this fact and immediately closed the comfort station and released the Dutch women. The fact that the Japanese military closed the comfort station shows that the discipline of the Japanese military was functioning. After the war, this incident was tried by the Dutch East Indies government. The officer responsible for opening the comfort station was sentenced to death, and his subordinates, the military doctor who conducted the venereal disease tests, and the civilians involved in the employment were sentenced to imprisonment, and executed.

The testimony of the two Koreans indicate that they were unlicensed prostitutes and that they worked in unlicensed brothels, not comfort stations. This is a case of violation of domestic law and military regulations. Domestic law prohibited unlicensed prostitution, and military regulations prohibited the working of the unlicensed prostitutes, violence in the stations, and non-use of sacks. The military checked the balance sheets between the comfort station operators and comfort women reported monthly by the operators, and confirmed payment to the comfort women. Discipline in the comfort station was enforced by the military police, and venereal disease examinations were conducted by military doctors. Kidnapping, rape, and injury were violations of the criminal law. The arrest rate for kidnapping and rape was almost 100%. Their testimony prove that they were not comfort women.

As explained above, this resolution was passed on the basis of misquotation of Kono statement and baseless memorandum, as well as testimony of cases in violation of domestic law and military regulations. Please refute these claims.

Washington Post advertisements

On June 14, 2007, a group of conservative Japanese politicians, academics, and others ran an advertisement in The Washington Post critical of the resolution. The ad was in response to a previous advertisement by a group of Korean comfort women survivors that ran in The Washington Post in support of the resolution, titled The Truth about Comfort Women.

See also

• Kono Statement

External links

• H.Res. 121
• Remarks of Chairman Lantos on H. Res. 121, regarding Comfort Women, at committee markup Archived July 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine by Tom Lantos
• Original Washington Post advertisement The advertisement run in the Washington Post in April 2007 to mobilize American policymakers and public to support Resolution 121.
• Washington Post advertisement Archived July 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A response by a conservative leaning group of Japanese politicians and academics to the issue of comfort women, which mentions Resolution 121.