ABSTRACT
On February 6, 1996, the United Nations pronounced its conclusive condemnation of Japan for forcing tens of thousands of women— referred to as “comfort women”—into sexual slavery for Japan's imperial troops during World War Two. In her report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. special investigator into violence against women, concluded that Japan must admit its legal responsibility, identify and punish those responsible for the sex slavery during the war, compensate the victims, apologize to the survivors in writing, and teach its students this hidden chapter in Japanese history. 1 It is notable that the U.N. recommendations resemble so closely the demands that the Chŏngdaehyŏp (Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan [KCWS]) has made consistently since its inception in 1990. 2
