COMFORT WOMEN TRAUMA AND RECOVERY

Korean Comfort Women Trauma and Recovery: Into an Unforgivable Past

Lahore University of Management Sciences

May 16, 2021

COMFORT WOMEN TRAUMA AND RECOVERY

Introduction

During war, men communicate with one another by inflicting harm onto the women of

the enemy, innocent women who otherwise have no role to play in the war. But not for the

Korean ‘Comfort Women’, for the memory of the role they played haunts them, their bodies, and

their generations to this day. During World War II, approximately 200,000 young girls were

abducted and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese government. 90% of these girls

belonged to Korea. They were subject to repeated rape, forced surgery, torture, sterilization and

physical assault. The job of these women was to ‘comfort’ the soldiers of the Japanese imperial

army hence the term “comfort women” (Howard and Lee, 1995). This paper aims to analyze the

experiences of the Korean comfort women during and after the war through a socio-

psychological lens and discuss the long-term consequences of their wartime experiences on their

mental well-being. It first briefly discusses the trauma that these women endured during the war

and how it translated into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for some ‘comfort’ women.

This paper also analyses how these women’s responses to the trauma they suffered are deeply

influenced by external factors such as culture, family background and the Korean government’s

attitude towards them. The comfort women’s journey with recovery is complicated and is

examined in light of the three stages of recovery devised by Judith Herman.

Trauma During the War

Traumatic experiences, according to the DSM-5 criteria are categorized as experiencing a

serious injury to oneself or witnessing a serious injury/death of someone, facing threats of death

or danger, or experiencing the violation of one’s physical integrity (Courtois and Ford, 2012).

Thus, a traumatic event would include exposure to violence, emotional and physical abuse,

natural disasters, war, and accidents. These abducted women were sent to ‘comfort stations.’
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Reports suggest that on average a girl was raped 20-30 times a day. They did not have access to

basic clothing, food, and washing and toilet facilities. If they tried to escape, they were brutally

tortured. If they tried to kill themselves, threats were made to harm their families. These women

were also subjected to forced abortions and if someone acquired STDs more than twice, she was

not treated for it (Askin, 2001). The trauma responses of the Korean comfort women are thus

complex in that it was not just the sexual assault that would become the reason of them being

traumatized. They also saw it happening to men and women around them. It was not just that

they were being raped, but that it was happening during a wartime situation while being

subjected to violence around the clock. They were repeatedly exposed to these conditions for all

the years that the war lasted. This had become their new reality.

Interviews with the surviving comfort women and soldiers, and other published resources

suggest the formation of a complex relationship of codependency and affection between the

Japanese soldiers and the Korean Comfort Women. This was a unique form of ‘trauma bonding’

which is a strong attachment between an abuser and their victim that arises in a cycle of abuse

and is reinforced by intermittent periods of affection and abuse (Ahnn, 2018). These young girls

who were forced out of their homes and into the camps, turned to their abusers for kindness and

protection. Some of these girls truly did believe that it was perhaps their job to ‘comfort’ these

men. What makes this bond further complex and unique is that the soldiers also turned to these

girls as a form of escape from the violence and pain that they themselves were subjected to at the

hands of superior army officers and the enemy forces. They sought relief from the horrors of the

pain being inflicted upon them, by delivering it to these innocent girls. Hence, underneath the

framework of the oppressor and the oppressed in a typical trauma bond were also human beings

yearning for comfort and empathy and only exposing their humanness and ordinariness in doing
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so. Nonetheless, these relationships were still governed by unequal power dynamics of gender

and colonialism and nothing could justify the harm caused.

Survivor Responses following the Aftermath of War

One of the consequences of being subjected to trauma is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

(PTSD). Studies investigating the mental health of former comfort women found out that these

women were struggling with PTSD even 60 years after the war. They continued to show

symptoms such as avoidant behavior, anger, and control impairment (Min et al., 2011; Kuwert et

al., 2014). Interestingly, some of these survivors were not diagnosed with PTSD, however they

showed symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts which are some other responses to being

subjected to sexual violence (Resick, 1993). Furthermore, these early traumatic war experiences

also resulted in other life-long consequences such as the inability to have intimate relationships,

inability to conceive children, and social isolation (Park, 2016).

At this point it is to be noted that the consequences and the survivor’s responses were not

just influenced by the events during the war, but various other factors were also involved in

determining the course of their lives following the war, as will be elaborated upon further in this

paper. But before getting into that, it is pertinent to analyze the experiences and responses of the

former comfort women in light of the ‘Adverse Childhood Experiences’ (ACEs) study. This

study examines the impact of early-life stressors such as trauma and sexual abuse on a person’s

later well-being in adulthood. This study is suitable for analyzing the case of the former comfort

women because they belonged to the age group of 12-17 when they were first sent to the comfort

stations and were thus in the adolescent stages of their lives. This study suggests a direct

relationship between the number of adverse childhood experiences and later life problems such

as depression, suicidal ideations, autoimmune diseases, and other social problems such as
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intergenerational transmission of trauma. According to the ACEs chart, the former comfort

women had a high score, mostly of 6, and the life-long consequences of trauma also did include

various diseases, social problems, and the transmission of intergenerational trauma into their off-

springs (Park et al., 2016; Lee et al, 2019).

Following World War II, when the survivors were to return home, most of them were

rejected by their families. Korea had also gotten divided as a result of the war, so a lot of these

women did not have homes to return to either. The survivors were continuously forced to remain

silent about what had happened to them during the war not only by their families but also the

Japanese government. After the war, large efforts were made by leaders of the Japanese Imperial

Army to destroy any sort of documentation that could prove the existence of these comfort

stations where the survivors were subjected to inhumane treatment (Herr, 2016). Due to these

reasons the world could not grasp the intensity of the crimes committed against these women

until much later (Ahmed, 2004). Thus, these factors following the war added to the survivor’s

trauma. Due to the patriarchal nature of the Korean society, these women were seen as outcasts

and concepts of ‘lost honor’ and ‘shame’ were attached to their bodies. After enduring years of

abuse, these women were not even welcomed back into the lives that were previously familiar to

them because of events that occurred through no fault of their own. In this way, the trauma did

not just end with the war, in fact, it grew and was carried by some of them until they breathed

their last. The point being made here is that all these events and factors that occurred after the

war further contributed to the survivor’s plight and added to their trauma.

Upon their return to their previous, supposedly ‘normal’ lives, a lot of survivors exhibited

shame, guilt, and a low self-esteem. According to Resick, these are also some of the responses of

survivors following the experiences of sexual assault (Resick, 1993). This paper argues that a
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large part of the reasons the survivors experienced these could also be attributed to the way they

were treated by their families, society, and the government upon their return, as already

elaborated upon above. When labels of lost honor and shame were attached to mere teenagers

who were already struggling to make sense of what had happened to them, they would

internalize those things as well and it would lead to a lower self-esteem. On top of that, they

were persistently forced into silence and attempts were being made to erase all records of their

role during the war, thus further adding to their trauma and shattering their morale.

Here, it is also pertinent to note that the some of the survivor’s responses also included

showing resilience which is a person’s ability to emotionally cope with a crisis situation.

Interviews and further research show that some women did not show any signs of anger,

resentment, or sadness. They attributed what happened to ‘destiny’ and talked about wishing

well for their country and people. They talked about spending the rest of their lives “doing

something meaningful, helping the poor” and to eventually die “without being a burden on

anyone.” (Howard and Lee, 1995).

The Survivors’ Journey of Recovery

Recently, in 2015, the Japanese government finally acknowledged its military’s

involvement in the ‘comfort woman’ system and also promised to pay damages to the survivors

(Choe, 2016). The focus of the Korean government as well as the international community it

appears, is on relying on legal means to bring justice to the survivors and victims. This paper

argues how that could itself be a potential hurdle in the survivors’ journey through the process of

recovery and more attempts need to be focused on the psychological well-being of the survivors

to aid them in the healing process. Thus, the focus of the community should also be on the long-

lasting psychological impacts of the kind of trauma that these survivors were put through. This
COMFORT WOMEN TRAUMA AND RECOVERY

paper thus analyses the survivors’ healing process in light of the three stages of recovery

presented by Judith Herman in her work, “Trauma and Recovery (1992)”.

According to Herman, the first stage of trauma recovery is regaining the sense of

physical, emotional, and psychological safety by the survivor (Herman, 1992). Here it is argued

that the aftermath of the war resulted in the survivors being forced to submit to silence; the

governments on both sides made attempts to remove every trace of the injustices committed

against these women from the face of history. Their families attached tokens of humiliation,

indignity, and dishonor to these women. When their families refused to accept these innocent

women, they instantly denied them any form of safety that was previously known to them. All of

these stood as a hurdle in the survivor’s recovery process because they were never welcomed to

begin with, let alone be made to feel safe. Their pain was not acknowledged for a long time and

they continued to suffer in silence. Thus, they never regained their sense of safety until the

violence against them was finally publicly acknowledged by the Japanese government in 2015.

The second stage of trauma recovery involves remembering the trauma and being able to

mourn all that one lost because of it. This is the process of the survivor finally being able to tell

their story of the abuse that they were subjected to (Herman, 1992). Attempts to bring the stories

of the former comfort women to light started rather recently and a little too late after the war

ended. A close examination of Howard and Lee’s book containing detailed interviews of the

survivors suggests how majority of them showed relief and contentment about finally being able

to tell their story. (Howard and Lee, 1995). These women talked about how they wanted to tell

their story and so they sued the Japanese government and called newspapers and when this book

was written they participated in the interviews to tell the world what had happened to them and

they reported saying that now that they had told their stories they felt at peace and were ready for
COMFORT WOMEN TRAUMA AND RECOVERY

the “sweet taste of death”. According to Herman, a sense of safety is very important for the

survivors to be able to recall their experiences and elaborate upon them in detail. Thus, when

finally given the space and empowerment to be able to share with the world the abuse that they

had endured, these women broke the spell of silence instantly which could be thought of as a

positive step in their journey of recovery.

The third and final stage of recovery is ‘reconnection’ which means taking back the hold

of one’s autonomy and control and to protect oneself from future danger. According to Herman,

just as the feelings of helplessness and isolation are the core experiences of trauma, reconnection

and empowerment are the experiences of recovery. At this stage, the survivor herself

acknowledges that she has been a victim of injustice and the way that it has impacted her life.

(Herman, 1992). In their interviews, survivors talked about how they should be getting

compensation and accommodation if required, not only by the Japanese but by the Korean

government as well. They talk about how they would “no longer harbor resentment” and spend

the rest of their days doing something meaningful. Some also talked about how they still felt

resentment because they could not have any children because of what was done to their bodies

almost 50 years ago (Howard and Lee, 1995). The survivors who were abandoned and left

homeless by their families upon their return from the war now fearlessly demand and protest for

accommodation and compensation by the government; standing out to be an excellent example

of reconnection and healing.

The Asian Women’s Fund was established in 1995 to compensate the surviving former

comfort women for the wrongs done to them and to restore their ‘honor and dignity’. Majority of

the surviving women straight up refused to accept money from the fund and demanded to be paid

directly. Not only this, but since then they have often also taken to the streets to protest and
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demand for what is rightfully theirs (Kimura, 2015). This shows the survivors regaining their

sense of control and power according to Herman’s third stage of recovery. It shows that they are

taking charge of their lives and will not settle for less than what they have demanded.

Implications

Research work on the issue of the former comfort women is rather recent. This is a

potential limitation since the number of surviving comfort women might not represent the

experiences of all those who were victimized during the war and never got to tell their stories.

Regardless, research on the experiences and the psychological impacts thereof illustrated upon

the life-long consequences of wartime sexual abuse and other crimes against women. It also

highlights the role additional factors could play in worsening or improving their conditions

following the war. Thus, this paper could guide interventions with current survivors of human

trafficking and sexual abuse. The case of former comfort women being forced into sexual slavery

is unique in its own respects, however it is not one of its kind. Wartime atrocities against women

are frequent and so this paper could also guide further research into this area to explore the long-

lasting psychological impacts of such experiences on female survivors which itself is under-

researched.

Conclusion

Korean women were abducted and forced into sexual slavery by members of the

Japanese imperial army. They were tortured, raped, sterilized, and abused which left deep

psychological imprints such as trauma, trauma induced bonding, and PTSD which impacted their

lives for the many years to follow. Socio-cultural factors such as being forced to remain silent

and having been abandoned by their conservative families after the war added to their plight and
COMFORT WOMEN TRAUMA AND RECOVERY

further traumatized them. The Japanese government formally acknowledged being involved in

committing crimes against these women recently and agreed to give compensation to the

survivors as restitution. This led to the survivors finally being given space to tell their stories

which would be a positive step in aiding their recovery. Moreover, the survivors taking to streets

and refusing to accept compensation through secondary channels and fearlessly acknowledging

and speaking of the horrors committed against them all point towards their path to recovery.

However, there still remain a need for the state machinery to focus its attention to providing

healing mechanisms to the survivors in light of their psychological well-being and conduct

further research in that regard that would not only aid the former comfort women survivors but

other survivors of human trafficking and wartime abuse.

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