[KS] Specialist on comfort women issues and Tokto issue

[Bang-Soon Yoon]

I agree with you that George Hicks’s book (The Comfort Women, 1994)
chronically lacks footnoting. And even though he compiled personal
victimization stories of some "comfort women" they were not based on the
author's primary research, nor any information about the source.
Furthermore, his book does not inquire into theoretical explanations
about sexual violence at wartime, etc.

Nonetheless, Hick's book, in my view, has many values. First of all, the
timing and the location of the publication (the first on the comfort
women issue in English outside the Korea, Japan or other Asian victim
country region) have certainly attracted world attention to this issue
and educated the public worldwide about this hidden (actually,
suppressed to hidden) war secret. The "comfort women" is a very old
issue that most people among older generations both in Korea and Japan
know about, if not in graphic details. While literally all the East
Asian history books omitted this issue (except, e.g., Saburo Ienaga, The
Pacific War 1931-1945, first published in 1968 by Iwanami Shoten
Publishers in Tokyo, later published with English translation in the
U.S. by Random House in 1978), Hicks book was "breaking news." In-depth,
scholarly books would be published later (in English) while people were
still trying to figure out who are the comfort women, what is the
comfort women system, etc. Yoshimi Yoshiaki's book, Comfort Women, for
example, was not available to English readers until Columbia University
Press published it in 2000 (the book was originally published in
Japanese by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo, 1995). 

Second, the Hicks’ book explains the comfort women system,
victimization, and NGO movements from a historical and comparative
perspective, although not following a formal format of scholarly
research. Information about the comfort women cases of Korea, Japan,
Philippines, Taiwan, China, etc. is useful, particularly if it was in
the mid 1990s. I still consider Hicks' book a useful introductory book
for English readers.

Third, I found Hicks suggests in his book to look at the comfort women
issue within a larger framework, the political economy of sex, comfort
women and contemporary issues of prostitution as well as trafficking in
women, etc. Although deeper analysis on these connections is missing, I
believe some researchers on comfort women studies might be stimulated by
his way of thinking for further research on comfort women. 

Referring to your question of why Hicks didn't interview comfort women
survivors for his book, I would like to point out the limits of comfort
women research using interviewing as a tool. In the early 1990s when
comfort women survivors began to testify in public, it was not easy for
outsiders to talk directly to them. To make a long story short, it was
extremely difficult for even Korean women researchers to get information
out from former Korean comfort women. Due to the extremely private
nature of the issue, sexual slavery and years of gang rape, etc. the
surviving victims didn't open up their minds. My own interviews of
comfort women survivors, women's NGO activists/researchers (who are
advocates of Korean comfort women) reveal that comfort women survivors
felt very uncomfortable to talk with young women researchers, not to
mention to males (even though they are in old and professional people
engaged in the religious communities). Korean researchers would say the
survivors would open up after consecutive 7th visits for interviews. The
successful interviews were possible for Korean women researchers after
they developed a personal tie, and persuading the comfort women
survivors about their historical mission to humanity, justice, etc. In
other words, very Korean cultural approach and empowerment preceded
interviews. Hicks' research on Korean comfort women based on the
interview research methodology, for example, could have been extremely
difficult, if not impossible in the early 1990s when he was working on
the book manuscript. Given comfort women’s old age, and their poor
health, interview may no longer be a reliable tool for the comfort women
research in these days if the research agenda is focused on
“fact-finding.”

Thank you. 
Bang-Soon Yoon







*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Bang-Soon Yoon, Ph. D.
Professor, Dept. of Political Science 
Central Washington University
400 East University Way
Ellensburg, WA. 98926-7578, USA
Tel.  (509)963-2961 or (509)963-2408 (leave message)
Fax. (509)963-1134
E-mail:  yoonb at cwu.edu
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
>>> don kirk 07/08/11 10:08 PM >>>
I wonder what's your view, as a specialist, on George Hicks' "The
Comfort Women." It seemed to me to suffer from a terrific lack of
footnotes and other forms of attribution while depending mightily on
works in Korean and Japanese that could have been translated and
published in English editions. (As far as I could tell, the book
contained no original interviews though some of these women were and are
available. A few of them still manage to show up for weekly demos in
front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.) That's just an off-hand view
after one reading. Would be interested in the academic perspective.
Thanks,
Don Kirk

--- On Thu, 7/7/11, Bang-Soon Yoon wrote:


From: Bang-Soon Yoon 
Subject: Re: [KS] Specialist on comfort women issues and Tokto issue
To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws, dilj at pdx.edu
Cc: LauniusM at cwu.edu
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011, 2:35 PM


Dear Professor Lee,

You can list me as a Korean comfort women specialist. I am currently
finishing up my book manuscript on comfort women specifically focused on
the Korean victims' case from a comparative perspective. My recent
publications on the subject include an article published by the
Northeast Asian History Foundation's English journal: Bang-Soon L. Yoon,
"Imperial Japan's Comfort Women from Korea: History & Politics of
Silence-Breaking," The Journal of Northeast Asian History, Vol. 7,
Number 1 (Summer 2010), pp. 5-39. I can send you a copy of it upon
request.

Regarding the Tokdo specialist, I recommend Dr. Michael A. Launius,
Professor of Political Science & the Executive Director of the
International Studies & Programs at Central Washington University. He
published several research papers, newspaper special columns, etc.
Thanks.

Sincerely,
Bang-Soon L. Yoon





* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Bang-Soon Yoon, Ph. D.
Professor, Dept. of Political Science 
Central Washington University
400 East University Way
Ellensburg, WA. 98926-7578, USA
Tel. (509)963-2961 or (509)963-2408 (leave message)
Fax. (509)963-1134
E-mail: yoonb at cwu.edu
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

>>> 07/06/11 8:18 PM >>> 
Dear members, 

I would like to know who are the specialists on the issues of Korean 
comfort women, and specialists on the issues of Tokto in the west. 

Information on these will be appreciated. 

Best wishes, 


Junghee Lee 
-- 
Junghee Lee 
Professor 
Department of Art 
Portland State University 
P.O. Box 751 
Portland, OR 97207-0751 
U.S.A. 
leeju at pdx.edu 
fax. 503-725-4541 
Tel. 503-725-3347

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