True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women: The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military... (Cassell Global Issues Series) [Paperback]

Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Author), Keith Howard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996 | ISBN-10: 030433264X | ISBN-13: 978-0304332649

Between 100,000 and 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military between the early 1930s and 1945. Yet successive post-war Japanese governments have refused to acknowledge what took place and no reparations have been made to the mainly Korean victims. Recent developments in human rights and women's rights in Korea have led to the surviving Comfort Women to overcome traditional taboos of chastity, defilement and shame to speak out for the first time. This book contains 19 exclusive first-hand testimonies from surviving Comfort Women, which portray the coercion, violence, abduction, rape and false imprisonment they suffered at the hands of the Japanese military. The Comfort Women's stories were originally published in Korean by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (formed in 1990 to campaign for recognition and reparation for the surviving Comfort Women).

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cassell (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030433264X
• ISBN-13: 978-0304332649
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,112,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women, May 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women: The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military... (Cassell Global Issues Series) (Paperback)

I am a 16 year old student enrolled in an International School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After reading this book, it did expand my knowledge on the happenings during the early 1930's to the end of the Pacific War during 1945. The stories in this book are actual true stories told by survivor comfort women who have built up the courage to share their embarrasing past with the public. Many of these women during their time as comfort women were as young as 12 - 21 years of age. They share the events of getting sexually transmitted dieases to getting beating up by a soldier for refusing their commands. The reason I gave this book 3 stars is simply because there are times where you feel after reading the first few stories that you've read the whole book. Then again, it's interesting to hear the different perspectives these women have to share about their experiences. It's nice how each individual had their own unique way of expressing their feelings. If one is really interested in the way comfort women were recruited, lived and some general statistical information on Korean comfort women, then this may be the book you're looking for. I do recommend this book but only if you are really interested in reading about how these women felt during their time as comfort women.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad but true accounts of Korean women in sexual slavery, December 17, 2000

By 

C. Joan Villanueva "katxgrt" (Jackson, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women: The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military... (Cassell Global Issues Series) (Paperback)

This book is compiled of the true experiences of Korean women, some as young as 14, who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese army. These war crimes have never been accounted or formally apologized for, and though this happened to thousands of women from China, the Philippines and Korea their experiences have been sought to be forgotten due to shame, ignorance and prejudice. This moving, often harrowing book is a wonderful tribute to not forget the hardships of these women and what they have been through. Some of them had their lives ruined, and some married and attempted to live normally- but none of them ever forgot the brutally experienced by a heartless and cruel military power. War brings much hardship and tragedy, and this is a powerful way to remember the past and not repeat history in the future.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More books like this should be written., May 17, 2000

By 

Chow Ching "Cornholio" (Somewhere) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women: The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military... (Cassell Global Issues Series) (Paperback)

I know thi ws book is repetitious, but I appreciate how the women are willing to stand up and let the whole world know about the nasty thing the Japanese did and are trying to cover up. If you also read " the Rape of Nanking", you'll get a fuller picture, this book cover only a small part. I recommend you read this. A japanese soldier publish a book about the rape of Nanking and was sentenced as defamation of the Japs Imperial army. They are trying to cover up and picture the Chinese as the history forger. Now, read this, at least you got another piece of history from another victim. let us all remember the facts when 21st century come and don't let this happen again.