Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Publishes Research Book Analyzing Compiled List of Japanese Military 'Comfort Women'

'Names Found in Overpainted Records'
Participation of Domestic and International Scholars Including Kang Jeong-suk, Yoon Myung-suk, and Ssuzryang

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on the 27th that it has published "Names Found in Overpainted Records," which compiles the latest research findings on the lists related to comfort women that reveal the mobilization of Japanese military 'comfort women' and the operation of comfort stations.

This research book is a comprehensive collection of analyses of various lists that revealed the mobilization of Japanese military comfort women. It contains detailed analyses of lists discovered in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and other places, including lists of female employees and nursing staff recorded as employed by the Japanese military at the time, as well as lists created by Koreans locally after the war to return to their homeland.

Until now, official documents created by the Japanese military allowed verification of the actual situation, but materials that specifically provide names, ages, and places of origin were rarely found. The research book is significant in that it confirms detailed records of forgotten comfort women victims within the lists. The Japanese military destroyed most of the lists created during the mobilization of comfort women, but in the process, lists that concealed the presence of comfort women under titles such as nursing staff, as well as lists created by the Allied forces or Koreans themselves after the war for repatriation, remain.

This research book involved not only domestic scholars such as Kang Jeongsuk, senior researcher at the East Asia Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Yoon Myungsuk, team leader of the Japanese Military 'Comfort Women' Issue Research Institute, and Han Hyein, full-time researcher at the East Asia Peace and History Research Institute, but also Chinese scholars such as Su Zuliang and Chen Lipei.