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Proof that there were underage Comfort Women in Comfort Stations

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When recruiters commissioned by the military were assisted by the police in Korea, it is not known whether they followed the Police Bureau’s rules, as set out in the above-mentioned memorandum of February 1938.

 

It is natural to assume that, in the beginning, the women sent from Korea were already involved in prostitution, but that, over time, women from poor families mainly came to be taken. They were enticed in a variety of ways.

 

There are clear evidences that, even in the early days, some were told lies about what their work would be. It is recognized that those recruiters often resorted to coaxing and intimidating those women to be recruited against their own will, and there were even cases where administrative/ military personel directly took part in the recruitments.

 

According to the docunent cited below, it can be known that many women taken from Korea were under the age of 21, something not allowed in Japan. Some were no more than 16 or 17, and had been in no previous contact with the world of prostitution. On the other hand,there were Chinese women in comfort stations in China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.awf.or.jp/e1/facts-05.html

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