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

Historical Memory The Story of Bae Bong-gi – “We luckily managed to survive amid that war.”

In her book which was translated into Korean in 2014, Kawata Fumiko vividly yet calmly unraveled the testimony of Bae Bong-gi, one of the Korean "Comfort Women" who was taken to Okinawa. Based on the testimonies and data collected from Okinawa residents, Japanese soldiers, as well as Bae Bong-gi, this article describes the detailed circumstances experienced by Bae Bong-gi and the “Comfort Women” surrounding the U.S. military’s air raids that took place on the Kerama Islands, Okinawa.

Kawata Fumiko (川田文子)

Historical Memory Remembering Bae Bong-gi

she said, with tears streaming down her cheeks, when a Japanese journalist suggested they go back and visit her old home together. Away for so long from her hometown in South Chungcheong Province – a place which she could now only dream about.

Park-Kim Wooki (朴金優綺)

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

2022 여성인권과 평화 국제 컨퍼런스_04 ⓒ한국여성인권진흥원 일본군‘위안부’문제연구소

Culture A New Political Horizon Opening with Wounds - Report on the International Conference on Women’s Rights and Peace 2022

The Japanese military “comfort women” have been a subject of transnational feminism that criticizes the patriarchy of war and talks about peace and a symbol connected to the unfinished issue, sexual violence against women.

Kim Eun-ha

Historical Memory The story of Song Shin-do – “We have not the slightest idea of what a person thinks inside.”

This article is about the story of Song Shin-do remembered by Kawata Fumiko, who connected Song Shin-do to the ‘”Comfort Women” 110 Report Call Executive Committee’.

Kawata Fumiko (川田文子)

Current Issue Online interview between Jeong Yeong-hwan & Pak Noja The issue of the 'comfort women’ that needs to be viewed from a post-division perspective DAY 2

Written by Jeong Yeong-hwan, Professor at Meiji Gakuin University, and Pak Noja, Professor at the University of Oslo

Jeong Yeong-hwan

Current Issue Here and now, what is the “issue” of Comfort Women for the Japanese military?

Now that a considerable amount of time has passed since the issue of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” was publicized, what are the questions young researchers are asking here?

Editorial Team of Webzine <Kyeol>

Culture The voices that rolled inside bodies – Emily Jungmin Yoon’s collection of poems A Cruelty Special to Our Species

Similar to what the researchers considered in the fourth collection of testimonies, the line placement and long pauses in Emily Jungmin Yoon’s poems would be the mimesis for the testifiers’ persistent pain, long silence, faltering, and hesitation that are manifested through poetic deviation.

Lee Hye-ryoung

Activism Expanding the Field of Struggle for the Japanese Military “Comfort Women”

In the second round of conversation with young scholars, we met with young researchers and activists Lee Eunjin, Lee Jaeim, and Choi Sung Yong, and asked what the issue of the “Comfort Women” in the Japanese military means to their lives, and how it motivates them.

Editorial Team of Webzine

Culture Translation of Silence, or Representation of the Untranslatable - A Review of the Film “The Silence”(2017)

Film researcher Hwang Miyojo sheds light on the documentary film “The Silence” produced by female director Park Su-nam, a second-generation Korean-Japanese. Director Park documented the struggle of Lee Ok-sun, who demanded that the Japanese government apologize and provide compensation, together with 14 colleagues.

Hwang Miyojo

Activism Remembering the First Steps: Meeting with First-Generation Researchers – (1) Yoon Jung-ok

She has long been interested in the ‘Comfort Women’ issue and has been striving to unveil the truth about the issue while serving as a professor in English literature at Ewha Womans University. From 1980, she has been searching for and meeting with the ‘Comfort Women’ victims in order to investigate the truth.

Editorial Team of Webzine <Kyeol>

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

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