ABSTRACT
The former so-called ‘comfort women’ occupy a preeminent position in South Korean memory of colonialism. Their historical sexual subjugation at the hands of Japanese imperial forces has, in many respects, become emblematic of the brutality that characterized Japan’s colonial regime on the Korean peninsula (1910–45). Despite that their primary victimization occurred in the 1930s and 1940s, the ascendant status of comfort women in national memory was only attained in recent decades. This chapter argues that central to their ascent in South Korean memory was the development of a comfort women advocacy movement and its effective framing of victimhood. Leaders of the movement coaxed the reluctant victims forward, framed and politicized their plight, and ultimately transformed public perceptions of their colonial adversity. The agency of the movement was facilitated by the structural transformation engendered by South Korea’s democratic transition in the late 1980s, and a subsequent global normative shift toward the protection of women from violence.
This chapter draws on fieldwork undertaken in South Korea from 2009 to 2012, including interviews conducted with the victims and movement leaders. The chapter begins by delineating the contours of marginalization of the former comfort women in post-liberated South Korea. It then traces the emergence of the advocacy movement and analyzes its framing strategy. Next, it turns to assessing the impact of this strategy on national memory. Finally, and to further illustrate the centrality of the movement in shaping memory, the chapter examines the counterfactual case of former comfort women in China, where a full-fledged domestic advocacy movement has yet to emerge.
