Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive

Annotation and image link: https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/18


Annotation

By making a sudden attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan sparked war against the Allied Forces. Japan went on attacking the Allied Powers’ colonies in Southeastern Asia, including Burma (today’s Myanmar). Starting with the Japanese troops’ occupation of Myitkyina, a major city in northern Burma, Japan went on to occupy the entire territory of Burma by May 1942.

Countering Japan’s moves, the Allied Forces created the South East Asian Command. Various translation and interrogation agencies operated in the Burma-India war theater under the South East Asian Command.

South East Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC) was one of the major intelligence agencies in this region. It took charge of interrogating Japanese POWs, translating documents captured from the Japanese military, and producing documents of various forms.

This report no. 105 contains a translation of the diary of an unidentified Japanese officer, which was seized in Moulmein, a city in Burma (today’s Myanmar). It says, “my conscience bothers me when I have night’s pleasure at the ‘comfort house'; the act is only natural, but it is difficult to determine right from wrong.” The document shows how Japanese soldiers perceived the use of “comfort women” as their right and entitlement and an individual soldier’s reflection on its problematic aspects.


Contributors
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] City of Seoul, Women and Family Policy Affairs Office 2011~
[Organization] National Archives and Records Administration 1934~


#SEATIC #diary #Moulmein #Burma #Myanmar

Download file: https://international.ucla.edu/media/files/US-22-XL6845,-SEATIC-Translation-Report-No.105-un-n0i.pdf