Asian-Pacific Feminist Coalition Politics: The Chŏngshindae/Jūgunianfu ("Comfort Women") Movement

This article examines the Chŏngshindae/Jūgunianfu issue from an Asian-Pacific feminist perspective. The Chŏngshindae/Jūgunianfu were women (primarily Korean) who were drafted by the Japanese military during the Pacific War, ostensibly to serve as laborers, but mostly to serve as sex slaves. They are referred to euphemistically as Jūgunianfu (military "comfort women") in Japanese, and Chŏngshindae (Women's Volunteer Labor Corps) in Korean. This article discusses (1) historical links between Japan's Pacific War military sex slaves and their contemporary parallels, (2) reasons why the military sex slavery issue has been buried for almost half a century, (3) the social context for politicization of the issue, and (4) global feminist and grassroots coalition politics: the Chŏngshindae/Jūgunianfu movement in Korea and Japan that has recently spread to other East and Southeast Asian countries.