日本軍 慰安婦 問題에 대한 日本社會의 認識

The Japanese Point of View in the 1990s on the 'Sexual Slaves of the Japanese Military'

Since the former sexual slaves of the Japanese military came out and testified their bitter experiences, the Japanese society corresponded that issue in many ways. In this paper, I investigated the Japanese perception and reaction about the issue, mainly appeared in the 1990s. Compared to the previous days, there were a few changes in Japanese attitudes toward it. The feministic view spreaded and many Japanese people realized that the problem was one of the war crimes and was based on the sexual discrimination. However, at the same time, the patriarchal and men-centered discourses were continuously reproduced and socially circulated. Especially, as the Japanese government proposed the salvation that the former sexual slaves would be provided with money from the National Fund through the spontaneous fund-raising of the Japanese people, there occurred conflicts within the victims of the sexual slaves and the citizens' movement. Moreover, the Japanese government confirmed that they had no legal responsibility in respect of the issue. Generally, the Japanese society seems to lack the reasonable realization that the sexual slaves resulted from the colonial rule over the Koreans and the Japanese government should make an apology and compensate them. Although the former sexual slaves and their supporter groups continued yo demand the recognition of the legal responsibility at the government level and true apology and compensation, the government has neglected any of them. Ever since the 1990s, the Japanese society steered to the right wing course, including the intention of revising constitution for the Japanese rearmament. If Korea and Japan want to construct the friendly relationship for the future, the two countries must go through the gate of settling the past affairs. Their tasks include the revelation of all kinds of the war atrocities, in particular, the sexual slaves. The conversion of the point of view is crucial in the Japanese society for the realization of the individual compensation and of the human rights of the victims.