It was the spring of Oh was World War II was nearing its end and Japan was shuttling thousands of troops to the island in preparation for a final stand against the United States that would never come. Jeju, an island of 1, square miles in the East Sea, has always been a militarily strategic location in Asia.
During its year occupation by Japan, it had been fortified with tunnels, an airport, kamikaze planes and the like and it was further reinforced with troops in anticipation of thwarting a U. Now 90, Oh said he still remembers the Japanese Navy officers around 17 years of age training daily in their kamikaze boats on the ocean in the shadow of Seongsan Ilchulbong, a volcanic tuff cone with over a dozen man-made caves dug into its southern slope to conceal the boats for surprise attacks against incoming enemies.
Now, Sunrise Peak, as its name translates to in English, is a tourist destination that is visited by tens of thousands a year and by locals every Jan. In April , however, Oh said the Japanese Navy had selected his hometown for its island headquarters and confiscated several residences, including an inn and the house across the street from his, which were converted into places of work for "comfort women," a euphemism for women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II.
There were some under 20 and around 25 as well. The issue of comfort women is a contentious one between Japan and Korea, as Korea has long demanded reparations and an apology to settle the war crimes Japan committed against the thousands of women forced into sexual slavery.
Most of the women have since died and the remaining survivors are elderly. Japan, on the other hand, denies that it forced the women into sexual slavery and that it has sufficiently acknowledged its wrongdoings during its colonial period of the peninsula, though South Korean activists disagree. Oh's testimony, and accompanying study, is the first published mention of Japanese comfort women brothels on Jeju Island.
