Korea/How Korean comfrot women were recruited----testimonies

see also how Korean women became domfort women
True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women
p12
This book was begun in March 1992, when members of the society began speaking to about 40 former comfort women who had given their addresses and had indicated a willingness to be contacted. In the processofrecording testimonies, the number of women we decided to include here was narrowed down to 19. We eliminated those who were reluctant to talk about the details of their experiences, those whose stories contained inconsitencies and those who contradicted themselves. The surviving onfort women are now quite old, and have lived through so much adversity that many can faintely remember the sufferings they endured. To help them remember their experiences more clearly, all the researchers compared the details of the accounts with what we know about the military history of Japan through documents . In an attempt to obtain accurate testimony, researchers had to interview each survivor more than ten times.They were forced restrain their emotion and to maintain objetive attitude while talking about heart-breaking experiences.

(The empahsis mine---and I wonder why they eliminated "those who were reluctant to talk about the details of their experiences"? Nothing is wrong with a rough story.They had indicated the willingness to talk, han't they?Was the half of 40 women who were interviewed not telling the truth?
How did the researcher helped the women remember?------like "So it was a Japanese soldier, wasn't it? and he abducted you by force, didn't he? we know they did.Don't be afraid, we are just helping you to remember")


How were they recruited?

.
p35 case1
When we finally arrived we had lunch in a restaurant, We were about to leave when a Japanese soldier beckoned our foster father over.he was a military officer with two stars on his lapel and he asked if we were Koreans.Our foster father explained that wer were indeed fron Korean and that we had come to China o find work.The officer retorted that we could have stayed in Korea if we had just wanted money and led him away, saying "you must be a spy,come with me'My friend and I were bustled away by other soldiers.

(The woman in case 1 filed a suit against Japanese government,but in it she wrote, she was sold as a Kaesen----nishioka p60

p43 case 2
...I wished that at that time i had been able to go with them,but then I suddenly heard a Korean man was in the area again recruiting more girls to work in the Japanese factories.I went to P'yongch'on to meet him and promised him I would go to Japan to work.

p51 case 3
We met a couple who were said to have come from Sinuju, and who had recruited four grils in addtion to us.

p59 case 4
A Korean man approached us together with a Japanese man as we chatted.They wore suits and look quite young and dashing.They asked us how much we were paid for our work. We answered that we didn't receive any monthly wages, but were given food and clothes for free.To this they reponded, saying that the koreans were thieves.They said if we went to Osaka with them we would be able to earn lots of money.....

p65 case 5
One day a Mr Kim, from Chongup, visited us and said that he could get me a jobe in a textile factory in Japan....

p71 case 6
...a friend of my mother introduced us to a man from Hamhung who ran a big bussiness in Seoul. He took pity on my father and gave us the 100 yen.It wasn't a free gift....
The community head of the village where we live was Japanese....his wife went around th evillage,saying 'if you got to work for three years in a military goods factory in Japan ,you will earn a a lot of money.....
A man in his fifties met us and handed us over to a Japanese soldier....

(The woman in case 6 filed a suit against Japanese government,but in it she wrote, she was sold as a Kaesen----nishioka p60)


p81 case 7
In our village there was a man in his fifies who worked as an agent for the Japanese.One day he approached me and told me he would give me an introduction to a place where I could both learn and earn money.....After a few days the man came to see me at dusk and told me to follow him...There, I saw there was a truck parked,with a Japanaese policeman ,Tanaka, who worked at the village police station.The two man told me to get on the truckand the truck drove me off to Pusan.
(What does Tanaka have to do with recruitment?----zero)

p89 case 8
After a few days ,Pusun and I were collecting shelfish at the riverside when we noticed elderly man and a Japanese man looking down at us from the hillside......The Japanese beckoned to us to follow him....He looked as if he was in his late thirties and he wore a sort of People's Army uniform with a combat cap.He handed me a bundle and old me I would find a dress and a pair of leather shoes in it.....


p96 case 9
I was playing with my friend with the elastic bands as usual.A Japanese man and a Korean man, who seemed to be working for him,approached us.....They point to me said that my father was playing go in Cho's guest house and had askedthem to fetch me.....I trusted the words of these men and went along.

p106 case 10
I had not gone far when a man in a Japanese military uniform, with a red band around his arm and a long sword at his side, approached me.He grabbed me by the arm and muttered something.....I think I was taken to a military police station.....The next morning,the same man took us to the train station where he handed us over two other men , one a Japanese in civilian clothes and one a Korean....

p 116 case11
Oh(non-Japanese name--zero)said he had come to recruit girls to work in a factory,....oh came and asked me if I wanted to go, and i answered that I would like to, given such good terms.

p126 case 12
It was said that an elderly Korean man working for Kim and a Japanese civilian employee were traveling the country recruiting girls.The Japanese man wore a browninshkhaki uniform with read and green lapels, and badge depicting something like red seagulls.I asked where they were goingand they replied that they were on their way to Japanese factories with the japanase man.I asked ifI could go with them.

p135 case 13
.My aunt kept a cafe called the new world....one day we hear a commotionoutside,...They swore and shouted,demanding the we pay back the money my father had borrowed and the gambled away.....Many Japanese and Korean businessmen came to the cafe.Among them was one Japanese who frequently came.....One day he told the woman he would introduce them to another cafe,where the pay would be bettter...On hearing I was the owner's niece he said I cluod go..


p145 case14
My father moved our hut to hongun.He rebuilt it ,sho he had to buy timber on credit,andwhen he was unable to repay the load, he was told he must either find a way to pay or vacte the house.So he decided to send me away an d take my wages in advance......I had worked there for about a year when the woman asked me if I would like to to elesewhere where I could earn lots of money.....I agreed.....

p153 case15
Choe urged me to quickly finish lunch, ....as soon as I had finished, he aske "Would't you like to earn money in Japan ,Come with us and work in a factory for a year where you will earn lots of money.They grabbed me by both arms and marched me out.

case 16 p159
....I had had some of my hari cut becauseit had become too full,and wore what was left in a bunch.My husband found fault with this and kept criticizing me.Then he took my child away and hand me over to an ontroduction agency.....At the agency were many women who had run away from their home without taking anything.We were fed and clothed,but the agency charged a large sum if our own family came to take us home.So once you were in there you had little chance of returning home.Most of the women were sold on and takne to Manchuria.I was passed to futher agency in Soeul.

case17p169
.I was 19 ,when we moved once again,this time to TAdong.A Neighbourhood Community Center official visited me ask if I had thought of finding work.He said that if I stayed at home with no job I ran the rish of being drafted into the Women's Volountary Corps. I could avoid this if I went to Japan to work and at the same time I would be able to earn money......My mother insisted I should't go but I thought it overnight then packe some clothes and left while she was at work.I went to the Neithbourhood Community Cnetre.

case 18 p180
It was night we sneaked the barbed wire....I found myself alone when I was thrown into a truck.I was left alone with the policeman and a driver.
My captor had three stars on his red lapel.I din't know his name but later found out his name was Corporal Kobayashi Tadeo, he sat with the driver with the jouney,but half way through stoped the vehecle and told me to get off .It was very dark;nothing was visible.He raped me.
.....Some three days later , Kobayashi came and had sex with me again .then other soldiers began to come.I served about ten a day..

(The woman in case 18 said she was taken to the comfort station at Toyama in Japan, but there was no comfort station at Toyama---nishioka p159)


case 19 p186
The manager kept up his harrassment until I felt I couldn't continue working there .I decided to leave and went to a glove-making factory in Choryang to see if they had vacancy.I was on my way home at about 500 or 6.00 p.m., and was passing the Nambu police station in front of Pusan railway station,when a policeman on guard duty called me over.He asked me to go inside,and I dutifully followed him in.....there were three or four girls of my age already inside and the policeman asked me to sit down. When I asked why ,he said he would find me work in a nice place and told me to wait quietly.....At about 11,00 p.m.a military truck arrived and two soldiers loaded us on boad.

(the woman in case 19 said she was taken to the comfort station at Pusan but there was not comfort statin at Pusan-----nishioka p159)