Author: Byeongju Hwang, a Research Officer, National Institute of Korean History Original annotation: http://www.kyeol.kr/node/195 Image link: https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/43 Annotation This 13-page report, dated November 30, 1944, has 9 sections: Effect of Allied Propaganda upon the Japanese Army in Burma; A POW’s essay; Detailed Criticism upon one issue of the “Gunjin Shimbun” by a POW; The notorious Colonel Maruyama; Disregard of troops’ welfare by Japanese officers; Difficulties due to reinforcements from different Depots; Average age of reinforcements to Burma; A pacifist in the Japanese Army; and A Japanese Army Brothel in the forward area. Two sections -section 4 on the notorious Colonel Maruyama and section 9 on comfort stations in the frontline -are relevant to the “comfort women” issue. This document is a production by the South East Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC), a similar organization to ATIS (Allied Translator and Interpreter Section). The Allied Forces established several organizations with names for psychological warfare and POW interrogations in various areas. Among all SEATIC records, this SEATIC Interrogation bulletin no. 2 is the most well-known document regarding “comfort women” issue. The author, Colonel Allender Swift, is from the psychological warfare division of SEATIC. This report is a secondary report based on various documents such as interrogation reports, including OWI’s Interrogation report no. 49 [US-11], which was a report based on interrogations of 20 Korean “comfort women.” Colonel Maruyama was the Japanese army’s captain of defense in Myitkyina, and the comfort station in Myitkyina was under his control. Maruyma was invariably a negatively viewed figure, both by the Japanese soldiers and the “comfort women.” According to the reports, he was a regular at the comfort station and was well-known as a drunkard. It was said that he took with him and spent hours in the shelter with his favorite “comfort woman” even when he had to evacuate. Maruyama appears to have disadvantaged the operation of the “comfort stations” by cutting the fees charged at the comfort stations and decreasing the proportion for the “comfort women” from 60% to 50%. Section 9, A Japanese Army Brothel in the forward area, contains essential information related to “comfort women.” This section is entirely based on two sources: the interrogation of a former comfort station owner Eibun Kitamura, labeled here as M.739, and OWI interrogation report no. 49. Note: the latter report has been widely available for some time, but the former report has not been discovered yet. The overall description of the comfort station in this document does not vary greatly from the OWI report no. 49. This SEATIC bulletin no. 2 is 4 pages long, and the OWI report no. 49 is 6 pages long. This SEATIC bulletin no. 2 contains the numbers and the nationalities of the “comfort women.” It says, 22 Koreans at Kyoei “comfort station”; 20 Koreans at Kinsui “comfort station”; and 21 Chinese at Momoya “comfort station.” This information is not found in the report no. 49. Another difference between the two reports is the description of how the “comfort women” returned home. OWI report no. 49 says that some “comfort women” were able to return home at the military’s order in late 1943. However, this SEATIC bulletin no. 2 says that, although the “comfort women” were supposedly able to return home once they paid up the debt, no one from the “comfort station” operated by M.739 actually returned home due to the war situation. #SEATIC #psychological_warfare #Maruyama #OWI_report_no.49 Download file: https://international.ucla.edu/media/files/US-21-SEATIC-Interrogation-Bulletin-no.-2,-a-Secondary-report-based-on-the-original-reports-ps-230.pdf