Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive

Annotation and image link: https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/119


ANNOTATION

Okinawa Prefecture, commonly referred to as Okinawa, is located at the southwestern tip of Japan and is made up of over 100 islands, including the main island of Okinawa, which is home to the largest population. In March 1944,major Japanese forces began to be stationed in Okinawa. In February 1944, when U.S. troops attacked Truk Island in Micronesia and Guam, Saipan, and Tinian in the Mariana Islands, the Japanese military, feeling pressured, created the Okinawan Defensive Forces, the 32nd Army, to defend the southwestern side of the Japanese mainland. Accordingly, in 1944, at the end of the war, more than 100,000 Japanese troops gathered in Okinawa from Manchuria and mainland Japan. Since soldiers who had already used comfort stations in China were among those moved to Okinawa, the Japanese military decided that they needed "comfort women" for the soldiers, and started to mobilize "comfort women" by establishing comfort stations in various locations in Okinawa. As a result, more than 100 comfort stations were built in Okinawa from 1944 until the end of the war in 1945.

The Kerama Islands (Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, Aka Island) on the west side of the main island of Okinawa were no exception. According to Bong-gi Bae, who served as a "comfort woman" in the Japanese military in Tokashiki Island, arrived at Okinawa on a Japanese military transport ship from Kagoshima, Japan with 51 women in November 1944. Seven of the women were assigned to Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, and Akashi Island. The next year on March 22, 1945, the U.S. forces began attacking Okinawa, starting with the Kerama Islands, and made their way to the main island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945 from Yomitan, the central Okinawa, and occupied the northern and southern regions.

It is unknown how many more "comfort women" were in Kerama Islands besides the women who were mobilized in November 1944, and how many of them would have survived the Battle of Okinawa. However, considering the result of the survey conducted by the Okinawa Women's History Research Group, which reported in 1992 that there were 121 comfort stations all over Okinawa, based on the testimonies of the residents who lived in the same community with the “comfort women,” we may surmise that there were a large number of Korean “comfort women” in Okinawa.

This photograph shows 6 Korean “comfort women” who were detained in a temporary camp in Zamami Island, Okinawa. It was taken on May 18, 1945 by a U.S. Navy soldier, whose identity is unknown. (The photograph is also in U.S. National Archives in Record Group (RG) 80, Entry G, Box 1189.) The description that accompanies the photo says, “Natives of Zamami Island in the Ryukyu Islands,” but it is likely that the women in this photo are 6 Korean “comfort women” who were in the temporary camp in Zamami Island because some experts believe that they are the same women in the photo taken by Captain Sokerson of the U.S. Navy on April 21, 1945.

Captain Sokerson referred to them as "Geisha Girls" and left a description in the picture that "Jap Koreans were found on Zamami Island in the Ryukyu Islands, and the Japanese soldiers brought them to the island." This indicates that the women in the photo were Korean "comfort women" who were mobilized by the Japanese military to Okinawa. However, no further information is available about these women, whether they returned safely to Korea, or what kind of life they lived afterward.


Contributors
[Organization] National Archives and Records Administration 1934~
[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~


#photo #Okinawa #Zamami_Island #Ryukyu_Island