【New York Times】韓国は在韓米軍に慰安婦を提供していた！

Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases
source : 2009.01.08 The New York Times (ボタンクリックで引用記事が開閉)

South Korea has railed for years against the Japanese government’s waffling over how much responsibility it bears for one of the ugliest chapters in its wartime history: the enslavement of women from Korea and elsewhere to work in brothels serving Japan’s imperial army.

Now, a group of former prostitutes in South Korea have accused some of their country’s former leaders of a different kind of abuse: encouraging them to have sex with the American soldiers who protected South Korea from North Korea. They also accuse past South Korean governments, and the United States military, of taking a direct hand in the sex trade from the 1960s through the 1980s, working together to build a testing and treatment system to ensure that prostitutes were disease-free for American troops.

While the women have made no claims that they were coerced into prostitution by South Korean or American officials during those years, they accuse successive Korean governments of hypocrisy in calling for reparations from Japan while refusing to take a hard look at South Korea’s own history.

“Our government was one big pimp for the U.S. military,” one of the women, Kim Ae-ran, 58, said in a recent interview.

Scholars on the issue say that the South Korean government was motivated in part by fears that the American military would leave, and that it wanted to do whatever it could to prevent that.

But the women suggest that the government also viewed them as commodities to be used to shore up the country’s struggling economy in the decades after the Korean War. They say the government not only sponsored classes for them in basic English and etiquette — meant to help them sell themselves more effectively — but also sent bureaucrats to praise them for earning dollars when South Korea was desperate for foreign currency.

“They urged us to sell as much as possible to the G.I.’s, praising us as ‘dollar-earning patriots,’ ” Ms. Kim said.

The United States military, the scholars say, became involved in attempts to regulate the trade in so-called camp towns surrounding the bases because of worries about sexually transmitted diseases.

In one of the most incendiary claims, some women say that the American military police and South Korean officials regularly raided clubs from the 1960s through the 1980s looking for women who were thought to be spreading the diseases. They picked out the women using the number tags the women say the brothels forced them to wear so the soldiers could more easily identify their sex partners.

The Korean police would then detain the prostitutes who were thought to be ill, the women said, locking them up under guard in so-called monkey houses, where the windows had bars. There, the prostitutes were forced to take medications until they were well.

The women, who are seeking compensation and an apology, have compared themselves to the so-called comfort women who have won widespread public sympathy for being forced into prostitution by the Japanese during World War II. Whether prostitutes by choice, need or coercion, the women say, they were all victims of government policies.

“If the question is, was there active government complicity, support of such camp town prostitution, yes, by both the Korean governments and the U.S. military,” said Katharine H. S. Moon, a scholar who wrote about the women in her 1997 book, “Sex Among Allies.”

The South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality, which handles women’s issues, declined to comment on the former prostitutes’ accusations. So did the American military command in Seoul, which responded with a general statement saying that the military “does not condone or support the illegal activities of human trafficking and prostitution.”

The New York Times interviewed eight women who worked in brothels near American bases, and it reviewed South Korean and American documents. The documents do provide some support for many of the women’s claims, though most are snapshots in time. The women maintain that the practices occurred over decades.

In some sense, the women’s allegations are not surprising. It has been clear for decades that South Korea and the United States military tolerated prostitution near bases, even though selling sex is illegal in South Korea. Bars and brothels have long lined the streets of the neighborhoods surrounding American bases in South Korea, as is the case in the areas around military bases around the world.

But the women say few of their fellow citizens know how deeply their government was involved in the trade in the camp towns.

The women received some support for their claims in 2006, from a former government official. In a television interview, the official, Kim Kee-joe, who was identified as having been a high-level liaison to the United States military, said, “Although we did not actively urge them to engage in prostitution, we, especially those from the county offices, did often tell them that it was not something bad for the country either.”

Transcripts of parliamentary hearings also suggest that at least some South Korean leaders viewed prostitution as something of a necessity. In one exchange in 1960, two lawmakers urged the government to train a supply of prostitutes to meet what one called the “natural needs” of allied soldiers and prevent them from spending their dollars in Japan instead of South Korea. The deputy home minister at the time, Lee Sung-woo, replied that the government had made some improvements in the “supply of prostitutes” and the “recreational system” for American troops.

Both Mr. Kim and Ms. Moon back the women’s assertions that the control of venereal disease was a driving factor for the two governments. They say the governments’ coordination became especially pronounced as Korean fears about an American pullout increased after President Richard M. Nixon announced plans in 1969 to reduce the number of American troops in South Korea.

“The idea was to create an environment where the guests were treated well in the camp towns to discourage them from leaving,” Mr. Kim said in the television interview.

Ms. Moon, a Wellesley College professor, said that the minutes of meetings between American military officials and Korean bureaucrats in the 1970s showed the lengths the two countries went to prevent epidemics. The minutes included recommendations to “isolate” women who were sick and ensure that they received treatment, government efforts to register prostitutes and require them to carry medical certification and a 1976 report about joint raids to apprehend prostitutes who were unregistered or failed to attend medical checkups.

These days, camp towns still exist, but as the Korean economy took off, women from the Philippines began replacing them.

Many former prostitutes live in the camp towns, isolated from mainstream society, which shuns them. Most are poor. Some are haunted by the memories of the mixed-race children they put up for adoption overseas.

Jeon, 71, who agreed to talk only if she was identified by just her surname, said she was an 18-year-old war orphan in 1956 when hunger drove her to Dongduchon, a camp town near the border with North Korea. She had a son in the 1960s, but she became convinced that he would have a better future in the United States and gave him up for adoption when he was 13.

About 10 years ago, her son, now an American soldier, returned to visit. She told him to forget her.

“I failed as a mother,” said Ms. Jeon, who lives on welfare checks and the little cash she earns selling items she picks from other people’s trash. “I have no right to depend on him now.”

“The more I think about my life, the more I think women like me were the biggest sacrifice for my country’s alliance with the Americans,” she said. “Looking back, I think my body was not mine, but the government’s and the U.S. military’s.”

「韓国」は在韓米軍に「慰安婦」を提供していた！
source : 週刊新潮 2009年1月22日号より抜粋 (ボタンクリックで引用記事が開閉)

◆「韓国」は在韓米軍に
「慰安婦」を提供していた！

ロクな調査もせずに発表された時の官房長官談話によって、今でも韓国から非難され、謝罪を要求され続けている旧日本軍の「従軍慰安婦」問題。
が、ここにきて、その韓国政府自らが、かって在韓米軍に「慰安婦」を積極的に提供していたとの証言が飛び出した。

元売春婦らが、韓国と米国が基地付近の売春を可能にしたと述べる

今月８日、米紙『ニューヨーク・タイムズ』が、こんな見出しの記事を掲載した。
同じ記事は同紙傘下の『ヘラルド・トリビューン』紙翌日付にも掲載されているが、いずれも国際面と１面で半分近くの分量を割いた記事だ。
執筆者は、両紙のソウル特派員である崔相薫（チエ・サンフン）。

韓国は長年にわたって、旧日本軍向け売春施設で韓国やその他の地域の女性が働かされていた戦時下の最も醜い歴史の一章、いわゆる従軍慰安婦問題について、日本政府がその責任範囲を曖昧にしていることを厳しく批判してきた

という書き出しの後 、記事はこう続いている。

そしていま、今度は、韓国の元売春婦グループが、北朝鮮から韓国を防衛していた米軍兵士を相手に、自分たちにセックスをするよう奨励するという、別種の虐待を行なったとして、自国の元指導者を告発した。彼女たちはまた、韓国の歴代政権および米軍が、１９６０年代から１９８０年代にかけてセックスビジネスに直接かかわり米軍兵士が性病に罹らないように売春が行なわれるよう、性病検査および治療体制を共に構築したとして、利用者を告発している

これらの女性たちは、（中略）韓国自体の歴史を厳しい目で検証することをせずに日本からの賠償を求めるのは偽善だと、歴代韓国政府を非難している

そして崔記者は実際に米兵士相手の「慰安婦」だったという金愛蘭（キム・エラン）さん（５８）に取材し、

韓国政府は、米軍相手の大手売春斡旋業者でした

という指摘や

政府はGＩ相手にできるだけたくさん商売するよう熱心に奨励し、私たちを“ドルを稼ぐ愛国者”として賞賛したのです

との悲痛な訴えを引き出し、さらに、他にも７名の元「慰安婦」らに取材した結果、

米韓当局は、番号札を用いて女性を識別し、兵士達がセックスの相手をより容易に見分けられるよう、売春宿に番号札の着用を強要していたと女性たちは述べる

性病に感染していると見なされた売春婦たちを韓国警察が連行し、女性たちによれば、窓に鉄格子がはまったいわゆる“モンキーハウス”と呼ばれる監視施設に監禁したという。この施設で、売春婦らは性病が治癒するまで治療を受けることを強要されたという

などの証言も得られた。

同紙が独自に韓国および米国の公文書を調査した結果、

これら公文書の中に、女性たちの主張の多くを裏付けるものが見つかった

韓国では売春は違法であるにもかかわらず、基地付近での売春を韓国も米軍も容認していた、何十年にもわたり明らかであった

とも指摘。
この後、記事は元韓国政府の役人、内務省副大臣らの過去の証言、それに研究者らの解説も載せ、最後に、

名字だけを公表するという条件で取材に応じてくれたジョンさん（７１）

の、こんな叫びで締め括っている。

自分の人生について考えれば考えるほど、私のような女性は、わが国と米国との同盟関係の最大の犠牲者だという気持ちが強くなってきます。振り返ってみれば、私の身体は私のものではなく、韓国政府、そして米軍のものであったと思います

当事者の証言や関係者の取材、そして独自調査も踏まえた、なかなか読み応えのあるスクープ記事なのだ。

◆日本への非難は偽善

産経新聞ソウル支局長の黒田勝弘氏によると、在韓米軍のために韓国政府が「慰安婦」を提供していたという問題は、韓国のマスコミで話題になったことはなく、なぜかこれまでタブー視されてきたのだという。

「確かに報道では触れられてきませんでしたが、これまで研究者による書籍や論文では書かれていたので、実は何も新しい話ではないのです」
そう語るのは、記事の執筆者である崔記者だ。

「昨年末、慰安婦問題に関する集会があり、その際、近々国を相手に提訴する動きがあるという話を聞き、取材を続けていたのです。現在、ソウルには、元慰安婦の女性たちを支援する民間団体が３つありますが、今回はその１つが提訴することを決めたんです」

実際、その元慰安婦支援団体『セウント』の副委員長を務める申英淑（シン・ヨンスク）氏が、
「我々の団体には、元慰安婦の女性が１６５名加入しており、このメンバーで集団訴訟を起こします。請求する金額や提訴の日付はこれから協議で詰めますが、在韓米軍の関与もあったわけですから、韓国政府だけではなく米国政府も被告とする方針です。我々以外の支援団体も今後、歩調を合わせることになれば、原告団はかなり大規模なものになるでしょう」
と、提訴の経緯を説明する。

崔記者によれば、
「６０年代の韓国議会議事録には、米兵が休暇中にわざわざ日本に行って女性を買っている実態について議論され、これでは韓国にドルが落ちないから、外貨獲得の為に慰安施設を設置するべきと話し合われた内容が詳細に記録されている。韓国政府が積極的に米軍向け売春行為に関与したことは明らかです」

記事の冒頭にもある通り、これまで韓国は旧日本軍が慰安婦を強制的に連行していたと決め付け、日本に謝罪を要求し続けてきた。しかも、平成５年８月、時の官房長官、河野洋平氏がそれを公式に認めるという誤った「河野談話」を発表したため、日本政府が今もその呪縛から逃れられずにいることもご存じの通りだ。

「談話に繋がる根拠とされ、朝日新聞が大々的に持ち上げたのが、吉田清治の著書『私の戦争犯罪??朝鮮人強制連行』でした。しかし、あの本は小説。私が現地調査をした上で、吉田に“あれは嘘だろう”と詰め寄ったら、本人も認めていましたから。結局、朝日新聞を始め、あの本を政治的に利用した人たちがいたわけです」（現代史家の泰郁彦氏）

ちなみに、その朝日新聞は『ニューヨーク・タイムズ』紙と提携しており、同紙の記事を独占的に紹介することも多い。が、何故か今回の“スクープ記事”は一行も紹介することなく、完全に黙殺している。

「元慰安婦たちは口々に“自国の問題を棚に上げ、韓国政府が日本を非難するのは偽善だ”と言ってましたが、私自身もまったく同感です」（崔記者）

今からでも遅くはない。朝日新聞は、この崔記者に“正確な”慰安婦問題の原稿を依頼してみてはどうか。