China’s goals in jumping on the official comfort women bandwagon are arguably strategic, helping support the growing divide between Japan and Korea.
The fact that Korean military also availed themselves of the ‘special comfort unit’ during the Korean War has received little public attention, even since the 1990’s.
Koreans have drawn parallels between the treatment of the comfort women and the Holocaust, leading Koreans to seek recognition of guilt and accountability from Japan.
Unlike Korea, Taiwan has built monuments to pay homage to Japan, honoring the contribution that Japan made to Taiwan during the colonial period, including comfort women.
Many suggest that Japanese crimes pale in comparison to Western imperialism which was not characterized by the progress and prosperity that Japanese colonialism produced.
PJ Brendese discusses his work exploring public memory, forgetting, relationships to memory and their link to democratic possibilities, and recent debates over monuments.
This student feature introduces readers to the development of nation-states. Once believed to offer perpetual peace, they soon gave rise to an even harsher form of war.
70 years after his execution at Nuremberg, Nazi war criminal Joachim von Ribbentrop is laid to rest in my hometown in Germany.
Reconciliation without forgiveness exists between Japan and Korea. Genuine reconciliation should be pursued to complement to what political reconciliation has missed.
The South Korean public believe their government made a humiliating deal with Japan. Thus, the comfort women issue continues as an impediment to reconciliation.
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