Truth about "Sex Slaves": First Court Hearing of 122 Former Korean Prostitutes for U.S. Soldiers

The first court hearing was held on December 19, 2014, for the case brought up by 122 former South Korean prostitutes who had served U.S. soldiers. During the hearing, one of the attorneys for the women argued that the women did not know prostitution was illegal, and “[t]hey were being educated that this was work for their country and an act of patriotism.” We now recall that some World War II comfort women from the Korean Peninsula said they were “children of the same Emperor.” Government attorney Lee San Hae claimed that the women had not proved that South Korean government encouraged them to act illegally. By this, did he acknowledge that they were serving U.S. soldiers sexually, legally or otherwise? Lee San Hae seems to be in a tough position to defend his own government for the act of which it has been accusing Japan. His task is doubly difficult because the South Korean government used the women as pawns in its foreign policy with the United States after the Korean War, that is, in peacetime.
He also objected that the women were calling themselves “comfort women.” He says, they should call themselves “gijichon (kijich’on) comfort women.” (http://www.stripes.com/news/attorney-korean-government-encouraged-prostitutes-to-service-us-troops-1.320106) Does “gijichon comfort women” sound better? This is a petty, almost pathetic, objection. Kijich’on or no kijich’on, they were comfort women recruited and abused by Koreans to serve soldiers.