The Public Knowledge of the Jeongsindae as Forcefully Mobilized “Comfort Women” in Korea

The so-called “comfort women” issue includes two dozen controversial issues that are both practically and academically important. Two related important issues are: whether or not most Koreans were aware of the forceful mobilization of many young Korean women to Japanese military brothels in the post-war period (1946-1989); and whether or not the Japanese military used the jeongsindae (the Korean word for “voluntary labor corps”) as a mechanism for forcefully mobilizing young Korean “comfort women.” Korean redress movement readers and a few scholars have given affirmative answers to both questions, mainly using articles published in Korean daily newspapers in the post-war period. Using 104 testimonies given by Korean “comfort women” survivors, this paper intends to show that (1) Korean “comfort women,” their parents, and their neighbors were well aware of the forced mobilization of young Korean women in the name of the jeongsindae or cheonyeogongchul in the 1930s and early 1940s, and that therefore they made great efforts to escape from the forced mobilization, and (2) there is evidence that Japanese military used the teishintai (jeongsindae) as a mechanism to forcefully mobilize Korean “comfort women.” By showing these two facts, this paper intends to refute C. Sarah Soh’s claim that Korean redress movement leaders and Korean scholars conflated the jeongsindae with Korean “comfort women” with no factual evidence. KCI Citation Count: 0