Webzine-KYEOL │ Research Institute on Japanese Military Sexsual Slavery (RIMSS)

Current Issue Beyond Nationalism: The Ongoing History of the “Comfort Women” and Gender Politics

Carol Gluck

Activism Navigating Memory Wars: A Research Journey Through the Politics of "Comfort Women" Commemoration

The spread of “Comfort Women” memorials across different cities and countries offers insights into both possibilities and the limits of memory activism, especially in an era when the world continues to confront the legacies of colonialism, racism, and historical injustice.

Dr. Daniel Schumacher

Culture Art as Witness

What can art accomplish beyond aesthetics? Randy Jayne Rosenberg examines how it can preserve marginalized histories, support survivor testimony, and move audiences from observation toward ethical responsibility.

Randy Jayne Rosenberg

Current Issue A “Comfort Woman” Who Has Yet to Return Home, a Memory That Has Yet to Be Mourned: The Name Bae Bong-gi

Is it still possible to remember Bae Bong-gi’s life and mourn her death beyond the adversarial structure between nations?

Kim Shin Hyun-gyung

Other Listening to Halmonis, Writing against Denial: A Personal and Scholarly Journey

Stories of “Comfort Women” are as insightful as they are heartbreaking. In this article, the author—an Argentine scholar—traces her journey from her first encounter with survivors and reflects on how it reshaped her personal and professional life, while also following the transnational itinerary of the “Comfort Women” movement across borders.

María del Pilar Álvarez

[사진 2] 통곡의 벽 서쪽에 마련된 희생자 묘지에는 다양한 집단의 희생자를 기억하는 추모비들 이 서있다. 사진은 성 강제노동 희생자 추모비이다.

Historical Memory Visiting the Memorial Museum Ravensbrück, the Site of the Largest Women’s Concentration Camp under Nazi Germany

The irony is that Germany, which is often hailed as a “model” country for past liquidation by providing compensation to victims of wartime forced labor through government-industry collaboration, did not even include women forced into sexual slavery in the category of victims entitled to such compensation and still does not recognize their legal victim status.

Jung Yong Suk

Other Right-wing or Conscientious?

Takashi Machida

Historical Memory A Story of Constant Struggle: The “Comfort Women” Issue in North Korea

Historian Harrison C. Kim traces how discourse on “Comfort Women” in North Korea has evolved—at times in dialogue with the outside world—while developing distinct advocacy practices and perspectives.

Cheehyung Harrison Kim

Education Educating Difficult Histories and the Case of the “Comfort Women”

The Contested Histories Initiative (CHI) is a Europe-based NGO dedicated to studying disputes over historical memorials in public spaces and promoting critical engagement with them. CHI’s Program Director, Paula O’Donohoe, spoke with Kyeol about the organization’s work and its engagement with the “Comfort Women” issue.

Paula O’Donohoe

Activism Tackling Contested Histories for a Deeper Understanding of the Past and Present

The Contested Histories Initiative (CHI) is a Europe-based NGO dedicated to studying disputes over historical memorials in public spaces and promoting critical engagement with them. CHI’s Program Director, Paula O’Donohoe, spoke with Kyeol about the organization’s work and its broader vision.

Paula O’Donohoe

Culture Why We Must Listen to the Voices and Songs of the “Comfort Women” Survivors

The author – an ethnomusicologist – invites us to listen to “Comfort Women” survivors’ songs as a way to understand their lives and to remember them.

Joshua D. Pilzer

Historical Memory “Comfort Girls”: The Forgotten Tragedy of Child Exploitation

The “Comfort Women” system was not only a violation of women’s rights, but also a grave infringement of children’s rights. In this article, Professor Ñusta Carranza Ko examines how imperial Japanese authorities systematically violated the rights of underage girls, in direct contravention of international conventions of the time, reframing the issue as a case of child rights violations.

Ñusta Carranza Ko

Articles