Interviews on Korean Prisoners

Mistreatment of Japanese officials in the wartime was harder than that of United Nations. Mainichi Shimbun, cooperating with Professor of Waseda University, Toyomi Asano, discovered the record of interviews to civilian Korean prisoners in Japanese Imperial Military in United States National Archives. The interviews were exercised by U.S. Force during World War II. According to the record, comfort women were not coercively kidnapped by Japanese officials, but volunteers or human trafficking,

The record was firstly found in United States in 1997 during the investigation by Asia Woman Fund for comfort woman issue. While the document has been missed for years, Mainichi and Asano realized it rediscovered and found another related documents this March. U.S. military captivated a number of Korean prisoners working for Japanese Imperial Army and made interviews to one hundred of them. Namely, three of them were selected for detailed interview in California in April 11^th, 1945.

On comfort woman, U.S. officials asked whether they knew how those women had been drafted, how Koreans thought about the system, and whether they knew the riots or protests over comfort woman. “Comfort women we saw in Pacific Ocean were volunteer or sold by their parents. If coercive mobilization occurs, Korean people, regardless young or old, will recognize it as outrage and revolt against it,” told those three prisoners.

Japanese government has been suspected as they have kidnapped Korean women for comfort women. Shinzo Abe administration has been negative on that historiography and Japanese government refused to admit systematic involvement on mobilizing comfort women. The document revealed did not support kidnapping theory, while it was not enough to reinforce assertion of Abe administration.

On labor mobilization, U.S. officials questioned how they were transported to Japan, whether they were mobilized or volunteer, and whether they could communicate with their family through postal mail. “Korean workers were on the labor in coalmines, iron ore mines or airport construction. We were required to work in the deepest and hottest place underground. Although we could communicate, our letters were entirely censored,” witnessed the prisoners.

It is obvious that labor forced to Korean workers was inhumane and discriminative. Those deteriorated treatments were based on colonization of Korean Peninsula by Japan. It is important in settling historical disagreement to encourage detailed study with evidence.