아시아태평양전쟁 시기 일본군‘위안부’의 정체성 - 여자 군속의 종군간호부와 비교 연구 -

Abstract

The Identity of Japanese Military Comfort Women’s during the Asia-Pacific War：A Comparative Study of Military Nurses as Civilian Women in the Military Shin, Youngsook The aim of this study is to examine the identity of“ comfort women” who were mobilized as civilian employees in the military as well as military nurses during the Asia-Pacific War. In order to accomplish this research, I will first start out by examining civilian workers in the Japanese military (軍屬) and concepts and categories such as “preparatory troop attachments (準軍屬).”In addition, in order to shed light on the actual conditions of military nurses as civilian employees, this study attempts to provide a comparative analysis of the identity of military nurses and“ comfort women.”Through this kind of study, it hopes to recognize the experiences of these women and the historical specificity behind military “comfort women.”In addition, this research seeks to contribute to Korean-Japanese relations as well as the international community by coming up with an acceptable solution by straightening out this distorted history and through the teaching of history in an upright manner. I will summarize the results of this study as follows： First, during the Asia-Pacific War, women were also drafted as civilian employees and they carried out various difficult tasks. The military nurse (i.e. a Red Cross nurse attached to the army) was the most representative among them. Because the military “comfort women”were under the complete control of the army, they were no less considered as female civilian employees and one can argue that they were quite important in the army. Second, among the various nurses in the army, there were those who worked under the Japanese Red Cross and those who supported the military and navy respectively. If this support was considered simply a moral duty, forced mobilization actually continued during wartime and under the Japanese imperial military system. In addition, sexual inequality not only existed between the sexes among military and civilian personnel, a discriminatory system also existed among nurses. In particular, at the end of the war, many of these“ comfort women”were enlisted as temporary nurses and the discrimination between them only increased their burden day by day. However, in war, women have always occupied the worst positions because there is little change because everything is designed from a patriarchal perspective. Simply put, the Japanese military neglected women and generally treated them without any distinction. Therefore, one cannot possibly divide and distinguish the identity of the women strictly from the register of names on the roster. Third, the fact that “comfort women”were drafted as civilian employees, they weren’t simply sex slaves especially with the war situation being inferior, the lack of manpower, and the hasty administrative decsions made for them during the final stages of Japan’s defeat and retreat (e.g., covering up, or at least providing care). For example, admitting“ comfort women”patients naturally meant sending them to the military base hospital or making them live in a group and conscripting them as laborers in the prisoners of war camps. There were various methods that were unavoidable. It also seems like there was a possibility of transferring them which became inevitable with demobilization and subsequently with repatriation and the like. Finally, from the start,“ comfort women”were described as female civilian employees or a “preparatory troop attachments,”and they were directly under the management of the army. They belonged to the army and were not only engaged in simply sexual slavery, but engaged in a wide range of hard labor which the army assigned to them. But in the Japanese army, their identity as “comfort women” was never recorded. Only from the investigation of records of the prisoners of war camps by the United States Military do the markings of“ comfort women”appear, albeit rarely. In addition, in the register (􃡓守名簿) of the Japanese army camp, markings such as temporary extra nurse or employee (傭人) is used and it can be owed to a few testimonies of these stricken survivor’s that these identities have been confirmed. Such evidence does point to “comfort women”being civilian employees because of their designated place in the military system. Military “comfort women”were legally and systematically viewed as military nurses and even if there was doubt, they were definitely considered military civilian employees after the war. Such discussion about the identity of“ comfort women”does lend support in applying pressure to some Japanese governors, who have always denied their historical existence. The identities of these women victims, human rights issues, and the likes must be analyzed in more detail than before and one can only pledge that such research will continue in the future.