The Comfort Women Mafia
By Tony Marano
There are a group of Koreans in the United States and South
Korea I label as the “Comfort Women Mafia.”
Understand this labeling is not intended to be applied to those women currently
claiming to have been Comfort Women forced into service by the Japanese
Imperial Military. This is all about
those who are exploiting this issue for either personal gain or pure hate for
the nation and people of Japan. Old fashion
Japan-bashing.
The Comfort Women Mafia has been successful in placing plaques
and a statue memorializing their version of the Comfort Women story in
communities all across the United States.
Why? This Comfort Women story
happened before 1945 between Korea and Japan, the United States was nowhere in
that equation. So why is this Mafia
dragging the United States into this dispute?
Very simple: The
Comfort Women Mafia’s one area of motivation is to bash Japan. Their goal is to tarnish the image of Japan
among the populace in the USA. How come
as of date there are no Comfort Women memorials in Mexico, Brazil, Thailand,
South Africa, Spain, or Finland? There
are no such memorials in the fore mentioned countries because currently the
goal is to diminish Japan’s image in the USA.
The city of Glendale, California eagerly participated in
this form of Japan bashing by placing a statue of a Comfort Women in one of their
city’s public parks. In 2013 two
friends from Japan, Shun and Mit along with me traveled to Glendale,
California.
We visited the Comfort Women statue in Glendale’s public city
park. We proceeded to take a series of
photographs with us sitting next to the statue, with a paper bag over the head
of the statue, and me holding two Japanese flags. The two flags were Japan’s national flag (Hinomaru)
and the Japanese Navy flag (The Rising Sun Flag / Kyokujitsu-ki).
We placed the photographs of me sitting next to the statue
with the flags on social media, mainly Facebook. These photographs caused a firestorm of hate
and protest from Koreans in the USA and South Korea. I received around two-thousand hateful
messages almost all starting with “F**k you.”
Around five hundred were disturbing death threats.
Here are some of the quotes from a few messages:
“I want to kill you.”
“I know where you live.
Watch your back. I am going to
kill you.”
“I kill your mother and your family.”
“I will find ur location and kick ur ass soon Wait for me its not going to take much time.”
“25 Dec I will kill you.”
“If I don’t see your apology note I will be forced to track
you down….”
“50000000 people hate you and 10 people planning kill you.”
“Remove your eyes, and will make you eat them. That’s my only purpose for my lifetime.”
A few of the messages were polite and questioned why I did
what I did by sitting next to the statue with the flags and paper bag. I explained what I did next to that statue
happens to statues in American city public parks all across the USA. We call that “freedom of expression.” As long as I did not deface or damage the
statue I was participating in an American tradition.
I continued with if an American exercising “freedom of
expression” in an American city’s public park is offensive, then perhaps that
statue should be moved to private property or sent to South Korea. One or two understood while others replied
with “F**k you.”
Some additional thoughts on the Comfort Women issue:
1 - During the period of 1910 to 1945 the average population
of Korea was around 20 million. Koreans
claim around 200,000 of their women were forced to be sex slaves (Comfort
Women) for the Japanese military. In
today's numbers using the USA as an example that represents around 3 million
American women would have been forced to be Comfort Women. Can you image 3 million American women being
dragged off to be Comfort Women what the reaction would be from American men?
2 - Where were the Korean men while 200,000 of their women
were being dragged off to sexual servitude?
Perhaps they were standing in line to join the Japanese Imperial
Army. Nearly 800,000 Korean men
attempted to join the Japanese Imperial Army while only 17,644 got
accepted. Would these 800,000 volunteer
to join an army responsible for forcing 200,000 of their women into sexual
slavery?
3 - Current day president of South Korea, President Park
Geun-hye, her father Park Chung-hee served in the Japanese Imperial Army as a
distinguished officer. Would President
Park's father join an army responsible for forcing 200,000 of his fellow
citizens into sexual slavery? He later
became President of South Korea.
4 - During World War Two Japan occupied around 22 nations /
territories. How come out of the 22
nations only two (South Korea and red China) are pursuing this Comfort Women
issue? The other nations said to have
been involved are not bellyaching currently over this issue. How come?
5 - In 2005 it was revealed in 1965 a settlement was agreed
to (1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement), and signed by South Korea
and Japan. In addition as part of this
settlement $800 million and soft loans (loans below market interest rates)
given to the South Korean government by the nation of Japan. Part of the agreement was this to be a final
agreement on closing any claims in the future by individuals in South Korea and
/ or the South Korean government against Japan for any activity between 1910
and 1945.
6 - In 1944 some Comfort Women were captured by the United
States Army. The USA Army issued a
report after interrogating the women.
The report states they were “well-paid prostitutes.” Also states they enjoyed social events such
as picnics, dances, sporting events with members of the Japanese Imperial
Army. Do sex slaves get to do that? They also enjoyed shopping trips spending
their earnings.
7 - This Comfort Women issued current day is nothing but
pure Japan bashing and seeking another round of payments.
8 - The Communist in China are in support of keeping the
Comfort Women issue alive as it servers to keep a division among the South
Korean – Japan – USA alliance.
9 – During World War Two the USA and Japan both did horrible
things to one-another and yet today are the best of friends and allies. Even if the Comfort Women issue is as the
Koreans and Chinese claim, it was over 70 years ago and should not be used as a
vehicle to bash Japan.
Recently Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korea’s
President Park came to an agreement to put this issue behind them. Prime Minister Abe issued a “sincere” apology
and announced Japan will pay over eight million dollars to a fund that provides
for the former Comfort Women still alive.
This agreement gave the Comfort Women Mafia what they were demanding: An apology and additional money. A reasonable observer might have been led to
believe the issue would be put to rest.
Ha ha ha. Not so fast! There was no way the Comfort Women Mafia was
going to allow this to be put to rest even after they got what they wanted.
They are now claiming Japan must accept “legal responsibility.” Where did that come from? This new demand of “legal responsibility” was
basically unheard of. It is appearing
now for the sole purpose of keeping the Japan-bashing active. Also to prove it was not about a “sincere”
apology or the money because they got what they wanted and now claim additional
demands.
The surviving Comfort Women are now demanding money is paid
directly to them and not to a fund set up to care for them. As long as there is a South Korea and a Japan
on both sides of the Sea of Japan this issue will always be a cyst in the diplomatic
relations between the two countries. The
hate for Japan runs deep and is strong on the Korean peninsula.
A peculiar aspect of this agreement is how this agreement
was greeted by the populace in both countries.
Conservatives in support of President Park in South Korea are now
critical of the Comfort Women Mafia for their continued demands and expression
of hate.
In Japan conservatives are upset because Prime Minister Abe
issued the latest apology (over fifty have been issued by the government of
Japan in the last seventy years) and upset because of this latest round of
money being paid.
While the Comfort Women Mafia remains active in their
promotion of hate, the Communist in Beijing, China are delighted to see a
thorny issue alive within the Japan – USA – South Korean alliance.
Korean interview:
Comfort Women playlist on YouTube:
U.S. Army 1944 report:
