Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue

Introduction and Q&A with the director at 5:20 pm.

Within Japan, the issue of "comfort women" divides the country along clear ideological lines. Various forces are engaged in a relentless dispute over empirical evidence, the validity of oral testimony, the number of victims, the meaning of sexual slavery and the definition of forced recruitment. By now, this otherwise largely domestic conflict is also taking place on the international stage. Various state and non-state actors and institutions from all over the world are involved. The film Shusenjo - The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue delves into these debates and uncovers the true intentions of the proponents and opponents of the "comfort women" issue. Most importantly, it finds answers to some of the most important questions for Japanese and Koreans: Were the "comfort women" prostitutes or sex slaves? Were they forcibly recruited? And does Japan have a legal responsibility to apologize to the former comfort women? Now that the "peace statue" in Berlin is also to be removed, it is worth taking a closer look at how the "comfort women" issue is repeatedly turned into a political one.

Korea Verband is a non-profit organization that emerged from the democracy and solidarity movement for Korea in 1990.