A Silver Lining Seen from the Defeat of Asahi Shimbun: Seminar Review of ‘The Issue of Comfort Women and Post-War Japan’

Why did the Asahi Shimbun have to withdraw an article written 32 years ago?

In 2014, why did the Asahi Shimbun have to withdraw an article written 32 years ago and apologize? Why did the Asahi have to choose investigation through the ’third-party committee’ as its breakthrough? In the Japanese political and social landscape surrounding the issue of comfort women, the Asahi Shimbun’s ‘withdrawal’ and the investigation by the third-party committee is recorded as an important turning point. However, there rarely has been the opportunity to discuss the meaning of the incident. The domestic press has reported articles that connect the meaning of the Yoshida Doctrine with Abe’s attempt to undermine the Kono Statement. Yet, there has been no occasion to learn about the details of the ‘withdrawal’ and ‘investigation’ process.

• ‘아사히 신문, “위안부 문제, 핵심은 바뀌지 않아”, 동아일보, 2014.8.29.(http://news.donga.com/3/all/20140829/66083539/1)

The seminar titled, ‘The issue of comfort women and post-war Japan’, held on October 16th by SNUAC, provided the opportunity to discuss the investigation by the Asahi’s ‘third-party committee’. The Asahi Shimbun established a third-party committee composed of historians, journalists and so on, in order to investigate how the withdrawal and the false report influenced the international society, and announced the investigation results in December. During the seminar, Professor Kaori Hayashi of Tokyo University and Shuichi Yukata, a reporter of the Asahi Shimbun, who have been members of the committee, presented on the political and social context of the withdrawal and the investigation, internal worries of the Asahi Shimbun, and the results and aftermath of the investigation. There has been news coverage that partially referred to the committee’s investigation report, but this was the first time to have it discussed by an insider, in relation to the social and political context.

An academic debate on the issue of comfort women, an unusual opportunity

The issue of comfort women is one of the most important debates in Korea-Japan diplomatic relations, but it is true that there is not much research done and discussion held on this topic in society. This seminar was an opportunity to learn about the retrospection and worries of the press, which have courageously raised their voice on the comfort women issue in the Japanese society. In this respect, it could be valued as an important occasion to deepen our consideration on the matter. As the mediator, Professor Chung Chin-Sung (Seoul National University, Department of Sociology), executive member of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan and former member of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, led the seminar. Also, Research Professor Park Jung-Ae and Kang Sung-Hyun’s participation in the debate gave greater depth to the discussion.

The article that the Asahi Shimbun retracted was about the ‘forced mobilization’ of comfort women, which was based on Seiji Yoshida’s testimony in 1982. Seiji Yoshida’s confession in his book, ‘My War Crimes‘, which states that he forcefully mobilized comfort women in Jeju Island, created a stir. This is discussed as one of the most representative evidences that reveal the coercion of mobilizing comfort women. The impact was huge enough to have Yoshida invited to Korea in 1992 to listen to his testimony.  (Refer to ‘일제시대 종군위안부 강제연행 지휘자 요시다 세이지 씨 증언’ MBC 뉴스 http://imnews.imbc.com/20dbnews/history/1992/1747454_13444.html 1992.8.12)

However, the problem is that the credibility of his testimony faces suspicion and criticism. The Asahi Shimbun has also declared in the late 1990s that ‘the testimony is fallacious’. (Refer to ‘요시다 증언이 뭐기에?’ 한겨레, http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/japan/660169.html 2014.10.16.) However, as Yoshida’s testimony has been cited in the Coomaraswamy Report of the 1996 UN Commission on Human Rights in its assessment on the comfort women issue, Japanese rightists tried to make use of it as a strategy to confront the issue. The Asahi Shimbun’s withdrawal of the article and investigation also occurred in this political context. The seminar started with Professor Chung Chin-Sung’s detailed explanation on this historical background, which was out of consideration for the audience who have not been used to Japan’s complicated political landscape.

Historical revisionism of Japanese rightists and the predicament of the Asahi Shimbun

Professor Hayashi stated that he intentionally tried to enhance credibility through statistical analysis when investigating the new coverage he was in charge of. He claimed that unlike the arguments of rightists, the Asahi Shimbun’s influence on the comfort women issue was not fatal in the international society, and pointed out that rather, with the ‘historical revisionist’ move of the rightists, international coverage quoting the newspaper started to increase. The professor stated that, nevertheless, the incident was covered with the focus on other committee members who tried to raise doubt on the Asahi Shimbun’s coverage rather than on his own research results, and added that the hardship of Asahi continued even after the investigation. In this respect, Professor Hayashi pointed out that the process from the withdrawal to the investigation meant that the Asahi Shimbun, caught in a sociopolitical predicament, was politically defeated by Prime Minister Abe’s strong containment.

Professor Hayashi drew attention by pointing out the crisis of the newspaper industry as the background of this incident. Even the Mainichi Shimbun, known as a ‘liberal’ press like the Asahi, started to actively criticize the Asahi along with the conservative press. Due to the growth of the Internet media, the newspaper industry was put at risk in terms of gaining share in the advertising market. With this backdrop, the newspaper industry as a whole tried to benefit from weakening the Asahi’s status. Many factors interlocked – the stubborn attack of conservative rightists to carry out historic revisionism, Asahi’s crisis on its credibility due to a series of misreport, the decrease of the number of readers, and business crisis – all led Asahi to finally withdraw the article and engage in investigation.

Shuichi Yutaka clarified the context of the withdrawal and investigation. He explained that the Asahi was internally caught up in a business crisis, and continuous physical violence and threat caused the executives considerable distress. He added that the Asahi had to consider the fact that even the citizens who used to be supportive of the newspaper wanted the paper to make its position clear regarding the attack from rightists. In other words, Asahi did not have much choice as it was in a predicament both in terms of politics and journalism. Yutaka stated that Asahi admitted its fault internally, but put it clear that the comfort women issue is a universal problem of women’s human rights, and tried to open a new chapter for confronting against historical revisionism. As a result, it had to face harsh criticism from the conservative rightists, but stressed that it will continue to show concern for the comfort women issue.

Defeated, but naively honest

In the following debate, questions mainly focused on the decision made by the Asahi. Acute questions followed, including, ‘Was the Asahi’s choice caught in the right wing’s frame battle too naive?’, ‘Was Asahi unable to come up with other alternatives as it, too, had a restricted perspective on the comfort women issue?’ As academic discussions on the comfort women issue have been rarely held, the panels and the floor actively participated in the debate, looking back on our perception of and response to the comfort women issue.

The debate heated up especially when the floor raised the question on the need for ‘reconciliation’ between Korea and Japan. The mediator and the panel both claimed that revealing the truth should come before reconciliation, and lamented that in reality, political discussion is emotionally held without sufficient fact finding.

The most impressive part of the seminar was the Asahi Shimbun’s ‘naively honest’ attitude. It declared that it chose to withdraw the article in order to keep its promise with its readers and maintain its credibility. Yutaka stated that even though the Asahi is in a political and economic predicament, it is internally considering how to let the readers understand the comfort women issue in the perspective of human rights. Moreover, he said that he is planning to understand and study the flow of new research, widen his perspective, and actively cover news. Even though the Asahi Shimbun is in a chaotic condition with difficulties in the context of strong containment of and criticism by rightists, along with Prime Minister Abe’s appearance, their battle is not over yet with just a onetime defeat. The ‘withdrawal’ and ‘investigation’ may be a result of the Asahi being dragged into the frame battle, but its will to start a new battle, using this as an opportunity for retrospection, must not be evaluated lightly.

The attempt to gain political benefit by revising history is made in countries other than Japan. The violence of Japan’s rightists is even stronger than we now imagine to be. To the question from the floor on Japan’s social atmosphere on the comfort women issue, Professor Hayashi answered that expressing one’s stance on this issue leads to being caught up in a tight situation, and added that no one wants to talk about this. In other words, it is no use to give mouth to the comfort women issue in the Japanese society. The Asahi Shimbun has acted as the main source for the comfort women issue until the era of the Kono and Murayama Statement. However, thereafter, it keeps on failing to create a major discourse, as it is dragged into the battle of Sankei and Yomiuri, which are both conservative rightist papers. Nonetheless, the Asahi did not give up approaching and critically looking back on the truth of the comfort women issue. The investigation by the third-party committee was like a trap layed by the rightists; however, it was the Asahi who brought about deeper retrospection at this point. Even though it has been defeated in the battle of the moment, the Asahi’s attitude honestly taking one step at a time shows a keen edge.

Expecting more attention and effort

At the last moment of the seminar, the presenters and panels emphasized that more interest and effort are needed on the comfort women issue. They mentioned that in the real world, which is overcome with emotion but lacking research, there is the need to create and expand work and perspectives on attaining diverse resources. They claimed that efforts of fact finding should be continuously made to approach the truth, going beyond the rightist frame of ‘coercion’ that tries to find the way out by any means. Even though it is not an easy battle, the one who endures the continuous and persistent battle can change the world. In this respect, it is not an exaggeration to say that the record of the Asahi Shimbun’s defeat has paved the way for a new victory.

Lee Sung-Min (PR Research Assistant)

SNUAC Core Research Center Special Seminar

<Never having to say I am sorry?: The Issue of Comfort Women and Post-War Japan>

Presenter: Professor Hayashi Kaori, Yutaka Shuichi
Mediator: Professor Chung Chin-Sung (Seoul National University Department of Sociology, executive member of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, former member of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights)

Discussion: Research Professor Park Jung-Ae (Dongguk University), Research Professor Kang Sung-Hyun (Sungkonghoe University)

Date: October 16, 2015, 13:00-15:00
Venue: SNUAC Youngwon Hall

Information: Kim Yoo-Mi, Senior Researcher (02-880-2592/ kimyoomi@snu.ac.kr)