Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive

Annotation and image link: https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/84

Allied Forces including U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands collected information regarding Japan while fighting against the Japanese military in the Asia-Pacific War. They collected information from local communities, interrogated former Japanese soldiers captured as POWs, seized and translated Japanese documents, and established systematic knowledge on the enemy.

This document was taken from the binder of various documents belonging to Japan's Dokyo Tai, the 23rd Infantry Regiment. It was captured in Torokina on Bougainville Island, by the Combat Intelligence Center (CIC) of the South Pacific Force, an intelligence agency of the U.S. Navy.

This document is a translation of the “Regulations Governing the use of the Special South Sector Brothel and Regulations Governing the Operation Thereof,” in the South Sector Guard Headquarters probably in the Shanghai area, written on December 10, 1942. The regulations include detailed information relating to the operation of the comfort stations, such as what is forbidden at comfort stations, the different rates depending on the nationalities of the “comfort women,” the business hours and schedule depending on ranks and units, the venereal examination of “comfort women,” and the regulations for the operators of comfort stations. It reveals how the Japanese military managed and controlled the “comfort station” system.

According to the regulations, the operators were required to be equipped with facilities from the Japanese military and provided with tools to prevent venereal disease. The military inspected and managed these measures through medical officers. The operators were supposed to strictly observe the regulations, including applications for permission to operate comfort stations, provision of the personal information of employees (other than “comfort women”) under contract to the comfort station, and the submission of weekly reports of business. The rates and schedules for soldiers and officers to use the comfort stations were also controlled by the military.

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~

#Dokyo_Tai #CIC #US_Navy #translation #Shanghai #regulations #operation #venereal_disease