Pyong Gap Min Controversies over Park Yu-ha's Book Another Twist in the Comfort Women Redress Movement

The most brutal crime committed by the Japanese military during the Pacific War (1932-1945) was the forced mobilization of a large number of Asian women (80,000200,000) to military brothels to sexually serve Japanese soldiers as “comfort women.”1 Koreans are believed to have been the largest group of comfort women victims, due mainly to the fact that the Japanese military was most effectively able to recruit women and girls from its own colonies.2 The majority of these women died of physical abuse, malnutrition, illness (including sexually transmitted diseases), bombings, or other tragic circumstances. Many others are presumed to have committed suicide or been killed by Japanese soldiers. Most Korean survivors returned home after Japan was defeated in August 1945, while others remained trapped in sexual servitude.