The 16th Special Exhibition: Listening to Korean ‘Comfort Women’: Effort to Take Responsibility for Japan’s Colonialism

Starting in 1875 when the Ganghwa Island Incident was used to promote Japanese aggression towards Korea, state regulated prostitution was implemented in the peninsular country. Imperial Japan ruled Korea through violence and exploitation, and took Korean women as ‘Comfort Women’ to the battlefields for the military, as they aggressively expanded their colonial territory.

The ‘present/now’ for those of us who live in East Asia is defined by our inability to separate ourselves from past Japanese colonial rule. The North-South division of Korea after liberation, the Korean War, the lonely deaths of people due to development and military dictatorships, and the suffering of the many cannot be unrelated to Japan, either. Now, there exists a necessity to know and understand what Japan has done, and correcting the neglected wrongs of the past 74 years.

Main Exhibit Contents

Voices of Korean ‘Comfort Women’

• The voices of Korean ‘Comfort Women,’ 195 testimonies
• The destinations and travel routes of ‘Comfort Women’ victims who were registered with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea
• The victimhood and post-war experiences of Korean ‘Comfort Women’

Japanese invasion and aggression of Korea, and the Japanese Military ‘Comfort System’

• The implementation of modern state regulated prostitution and the army
• [Chronology] Japanese colonial rule and the structures of capture and exploitation
• The perpetuation of Japanese colonialism and discrimination

The struggle for Korean Women

• Democratization and women’s movements in the Republic of Korea
• Alongside Halmonis (grandmothers) – The popularization of activism
• The anger and abuse from the Japanese government