Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive Annotation and image link: https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/77 Annotation This is a war diary of U.S. forces, dated February 5, 1946, while they occupied Peleliu island of Palau. Japan had occupied Pacific islands, including the Caroline Islands (to which Palau belongs), the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands in November 1914. While ruling Palau through its military government, Japan secured the natural resources of these islands and secured a route for the Japanese military to advance to the Pacific. At that time, Japan called its colonization of the Pacific islands the ‘South Seas Mandate,’ meaning islands in the southern seas. Palau was the center of Japan’s rule in the South Seas Mandate and where the South Seas Government headquarters was established in 1922. As Japan occupied the South Seas Mandate since the First World War, many Koreans migrated to those islands. Number of Koreans in those islands rapidly increased, as Korean laborers were forcibly mobilized since 1939. Since the outbreak of the Pacific War after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese Navy ruled this area, replacing the South Seas Government. As those Pacific islands became battlefields, soldiers and “comfort women” were sent there. Due to this situation, there were many Korean laborers and “comfort women” in the “South Seas Mandate, ” who had been forcibly mobilized even after the WWII ended. This war diary contains a list of evacuees from Babelthuap, the largest island of Palau, in January 1946. According to it, Koreans were evacuated by ships on several occasions and returned to Busan (p.1). Section 5. Medical Activities (p.3) shows that some of the Koreans who had been identified as ‘labourers’ on the list were actually “comfort women.” This section writes about the situation after “comfort women” returned to Korea. It says, “Evacuation of large numbers of civilian Japanese nationals, including Okinawans, Koreans, Formosans, has occurred during the month. The evacuation of Korean women, a large number of whom were practicing prostitution, has lessened the probability of venereal disease among U.S. military personnel.” Contributors [Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~ [Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~ [Organization] National Archives and Records Administration 1934~ [Organization] City of Seoul, Women and Family Policy Affairs Office 2011~ #war_diary #Peleliu_island #Palau #evacuees #evacuation #Okinawan #Korean #Formosan Download file: https://international.ucla.edu/media/files/US-24-Official-War-Diary-Task-Unit-94.5.3,-Headquarters,-Island-Command-Peleliu-z3-l41.pdf