Korean Comfort Women

I haven't posted for some time, but a recent newspaper article needed comment. During the second world war, Japan was a devastating colonial force. In fact, their colonial period began in 1910 and continued until the US forced Japan into submission with unprecedented military action - two infamous nuclear warheads that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Korea was one of the colonies most devastated by the Japanese. You can also find out more about the Japanese devastation of Asia by reading on the rape of Nanjing. One despicable thing Japan did as a colonial power was to enslave young Korean women (teens) beat them into submission, and use them as sex slaves for the Japanese forces. Korea estimates that Japan enslaved 200, 000 Korean women between 1930 and 1945. Unlike atrocities committed by forces in Europe (thinking primarily of the Holocaust here), Japan has never apologized for the treatment of these women. Moreover, they deny that they ever participated in this systematic rape and torture of a significant portion of Korean women at that time. They still teach a version of Japanese history that whitewashes their activities in Asia, portraying their colonization of Korea as humane.

The article just published by the Korean Times comments on the US support of the comfort women, urging Japan for a public apology and financial remuneration. Korea, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore are no longer singing an Asia-only lament. I believe that Canada, if it hasn't already, should put significant pressure on the Japanese to apologize for their treatment of Korean Comfort Women.

Ex-Sex Slaves Welcome US Resolution


Comfort women who were forced to serve for the Japanese army as a sexual slave during World War II are consoled by protesters during a press conference welcoming the passage of a resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives calling on Japan to formally apologize to the victims and accept historical responsibility in front of Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Tuesday. / AP-Yonhap

By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter

Former Korean sex slaves used by Japanese soldiers during World War II hailed Tuesday the passage of a resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives, urging Japan to officially apologize to the victims and acknowledge its historical responsibility.

``The United States’ approval of the resolution gives us hope for the restoration of honor, the realization of justice for victims of comfort women in the Asia Pacific region, and women’s human rights activists who have spent tens of years for supporting victims of comfort women,’’ said the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

``The Japanese government should officially apologize to the elderly victims as soon as possible and make legal compensations as well as teach the younger generations correct history and promise a peaceful future,’’ it said.

Kil Won-ok and Lee Soon-duk, two of the victims of comfort women, expressed their delight.

``My delight is beyond words. The Japanese government should now sincerely apologize to the victims in order not to become the mockery of the world,’’ said Kil.

Lee, 91, demanded activists to continue their efforts for rights of the victims.

``I have no single spot in my body which is well as I was beaten so hard when I was hauled away at the age of 17. Please help us live decent lives for the rest of our lives,’’ she said.

Lawmakers, including Lee Mi-kyung of the Uri Party, also hailed the U.S. House Resolution as a wise decision and called on the Japanese government to immediately give legal compensation to victims and to educate future generations about comfort women without distorting history.

The non-binding House resolution is symbolic, but it demands Japan to formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for the coercion of young women into sexual slavery in military brothels in the 1930s and 40s.

While estimates are varying, hundreds of thousands of women, mostly from Korea and other Asian countries, are believed to have been sexually enslaved by Japan, which colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

U.S. Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, the resolution's chief sponsor, said Lee Yong-soo, who testified before Congress in February on her rape and torture at the hands of Japanese soldiers, watched Monday's proceedings. ``All she could do was weep and say thank you,’’ Honda said. ``It vindicated her past.’’

In 1993, Japan issued a carefully worded official apology, but it was never approved by its parliament. Japan has rejected compensation claims, saying they were settled by postwar treaties.

michelle@koreatimes.co.kr

Gord Downey's Controversial Poem

This is a poem by Gord Downey of The Tragically Hip. He recited this as he accepted the hips induction into the Canadian Rock of Fame (or whatever it is called). I guess it stirred up some controversy. At anyrate, Gord is a good lyricist, and this is not a bad poem persay, it has it 's moments. I liked his foray into theology half way through.


WE ARE THE NEXT US
(The time occupied by the action is an afternoon and one night.)

I don't know who comes up with this
but, I wish they'd stop saying;
'it's not the band I hate, it's their fans'

You can't hate "fans".
You must narrow your hate
You can't hate huge, hate sprawling, hate the wild,
unfocussed hate hates itself,
pick your victims. specialize
find the good n' unaffiliated, the heir-not apparent, the everyday outcast,
the weirdo with the heart of gold, infiltrate the hoser elite.
Find the ribs-showingest rock n roll stray dog
That ever pushed melodious air
howling against vivisection in the uncompartmentalizeable
night.
and, then hate

or go to a show - look down your row.
the lights are on - find people you know.
There's AnthemSinger standing with his arm
around DarklyNurturedDream.
and Ol'Quintessential listening to HigherThanACBCGuest say;
"I haven't read them, but I understand them."
And there's BrainOfAToaster (he knows when things are done)
next to that girl, CradlingHerKeyCard, whispering,
"this might be my last show, come."
Check it out! There's HoldStill and Gently - together again for the very first time.
and MyDoctrineHasFailedMeButMyMusicHasn't
next to ColderValues, next to FeaturelessButFree.
Hey, even TheEmperorHasNoHook is here and IDon'tWannaTalkAboutItHowYouBrokeMyHeart, she's here too.

Go to a show. Look down your row
While the lights are on
find people you know:
MindOfFame's yelling
to GoesWithoutSaying and
OverTheRadar points out
WinWinWinWin to
GulpIndeed

Go to a show.
Music Lovers under a full moon in trust
It's not the band you like it's their sea of hate you don't trust
you're in the right place

Author a killing.
employ carelessness, greed
wait til the hate's flowing
then hate like the wind
take hate's hate and do it better
make hate retire - go soft
catch bats til you feel better
try and catch them aloft

don't hate fans it makes ya sound like a fuckin fascist, or worse -
undiscerning.
No one likes indiscriminate.
you won't get laid with those politics

that said. Lets go backstage! See what's hateable there.
C'mon!

C'mon

C'mon
The band is preparing - lost in thought,
relearning, "How To Get Lost" and
"Where To Appear, Where to Never Appear"
hoping to return to the birthplace of the word
where winning sentences hang from trees
where no one is too cool to move
or too slow to get out of their own way.

The crew is moving on water
Tributarily spring-run-off fed rapids they're paddling
deliberately, quietly, fur-traders not missionaries
they run God's Instrument through the Devil's Amp for chrissakes
they bring the Peace If Peace
is any good at all
it's because of them,
and if it isn't, well, it was working before.

a shadowy figure stands alone with a notebook
writes then underlines;
'Glowing Disses'
- I fucked Paul McCartney
- Put teen ennui back in 'tsunami fatigue'
- Penned Relentlessly Apt…
- Forgot DarklyNurturedDream

look,
deep in conversation,
It's Picasso (Canadian) and Matisse (Canadian)
- 'Giving is where the pleasure is in this business.'
- 'That's when can you see what this business can do'
- 'When everyone in this business is together- whoa - I'd like to be you'
they organize relief in a heartbeat
they can stand in a canoe
lets move UN to the Halifax move Superior to the moon.

Hey there's Andrea, the dancer
and a poet named Ken.
Their nametags say, 'Muse'
they are Somebody's Someone Somewhere then
waving to the Canadian Arc
they're gonna do something
together one day
A thing about a country that
found itself in its
art found its way

It's getting time - it's getting close (go to your seats)
a part in the night where's the love of my life?
kiss me, 'thank you for this'
kiss me 'I won't be myself without you'
kiss me, It's time, to reach you the way you reach me
it's time.

Out in the emptying lobby, a lonely Waterkeeper is late setting up his booth.
A kid, who is interested, says, 'here, let me help you.'

Here's an explosion
an explosion inside
the just before music sound (the sound of just before music)
kindnesses, sweetnesses shoot up
and shower back down
The listeners have spoken, and it's,

WeAreTheNextUs.

We all have our moments
get the success we deserve
We must look at each other
(it's failure that takes nerve)
make eye contact, shake hands
silently vow;
Like the greats before us
let us cry into the curtains
and then go on stage

Now

The band's plugging in (they intend to stay)
The singer strides to the microphone
Yells (rock voice) 'Thank you!' as if to say
'For giving us our start!'
and 'This one's for Neil!'
and 'Have a great Augusta, Craig!'
And then we start

It's revealed

now you can hate