February 10, 2014 12:03
A group of Korean, Chinese and Japanese academics have decided to seek the inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World register of documents relating women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military in World War II.
The 30 academics include Sungkyunkwan University historian Lee Shin-chul, Bu Ping of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Takeshi Fujinaga of Osaka Sangyo University.
They held a conference in Shanghai this weekend to discuss how to resolve the problems associated with the former sex slaves and seek international cooperation raising awareness of their plight.
The academics want to submit materials from the two Koreas, China, the Netherlands and the Philippines to UNESCO for review.
At the conference, the academics presented fresh evidence that the Japanese military was directly involved in forcing the women into sexual slavery, contradicting Tokyo's official claim that private operators were responsible.
The materials include an official document giving military authorization for the establishment of brothels in Shangha in 1939, when Japan occupied China.
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com