By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea– Korean “comfort women,” women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II, held their 900th weekly protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

Victims protest in front of Seoul’s Japanese Embassy.  Courtesy of Yonhap News.

Since this demonstration first began on January 8, 1992, victims and activists continue to gather every Wednesday.

Gil Won-ok, one of the women who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers during the War, said, “I want the whole world to know of this terrible history to prevent it from every happening again.”

These women and activists vow that they will never give up until Japan apologizes and compensates the “comfort women” for its wartime atrocities.

At this week’s rally, Kim Hak-sun, another former “comfort woman,” recalled the painful memories from her past.  She said she was just 17 years old when she was taken by the Japanese soldiers and was forced to have sex with four to five soldiers a day while being kept under watch 24 hours a day.

Kim also recalled that she was beaten whenever she tried to escape.  She said, “I still shudder when I see the Japanese flag.”

A Seoul-based rights group, The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, said, “Almost a century has passed since a number of young [Korean] women’s lives and human rights were infringed.  But the perpetrator has never acknowledged the crime.  The…demonstration will continue until the Japanese government takes responsibility.”

The U.S., the Netherlands, Canada and Australia have all adopted resolutions calling the Japanese government to acknowledge and apologize for sexual enslavement of Korean “comfort women.”

The United Nations Human Rights Council has also been urging Japan to resolve this issue, but Japan has yet to offer an official apology or enact laws to pay compensations to the “comfort women.”  In fact, Japan’s right-wing groups are attempting to delete references to “comfort women” in Japanese school textbooks.

Many of the victims have passed away without ever receiving an apology or reparations from Japan for the abuses they suffered as a result of sexual enslavement.  Out of approximately 200,000 Korean women who were taken by the Japanese military and made into “comfort women,” only 87 comfort women remain with most of them in their 70’s and 80’s.

For more information, please see:

The Chosun Ilbo – ‘Comfort Women’ Mark 900th Protest at Japanese Embassy –13 January 2010

The Korea Times – Activist From Canada Attends Comfort Women’s 900th Protest – 13 January 2010

Yonhap News – Activists, comfort women hold 900th Japanese Embassy protest – 13 January 2010

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Internet censorship is by no means a new concept to Chinese citizens. However, recent activity, instigated a surprising decision by Google to cease cooperation with Chinese government censors, and possibly, a four-year effort to do business in China. The effort is propelled largely by U.S. business and technology communities and human-rights advocacy groups. The central concern is over China’s human rights and free speech restraints.
Google announced the decision after discovering “highly sophisticated and targeted attacks” on dozens of Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China. Google stated that it was not alone. A spokesperson of the internet corporation said some 20 other companies were also targets of cyber attacks from China.

Human Rights Watch said that Google’s decision spotlights the importance of freedom of expression, and privacy online and illustrates the persistent risk to human rights posed by governments that view the free flow of information as a threat. To this, Arvind Ganesan, director of Human Rights Watch’s corporations and human rights program said, “A transnational attack on privacy is chilling, and Google’s response sets a great example.” She went on to say that, “At the same time, this incident underscores the need for governments and companies to develop policies that safeguard rights.”

Prior to Google’s most recent announcement, a Google senior vice president, Jonathan Rosenberg, issued an online manifesto back in December that placed Google’s business and ethical interests squarely behind open information, and against censorship. Less than one month ago he posted, “There are forces aligned against the open Internet — governments who control access, companies who fight in their own self-interests to preserve the status quo,” and “they are powerful, and if they succeed we will find ourselves inhabiting an Internet of fragmentation, stagnation, higher prices, and less competition.”

High company officials at Google are not alone. A Google engineer stated in a blog that the company’s popular Gmail service, which was a target of the Chinese hackers, will henceforth employ extra encryption by default.

Google’s actions also highlight the growing dangers faced by foreign information technology firms in China where the government devotes massive financial and human resources to censor the Internet and to hunt down and punish citizens who hold views which the ruling Chinese Communist Party disagrees with.  To date, Google and other companies have acquiesced to Chinese government demands to censor information.

Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor, and a founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said that Google’s action had raised the ethical bar for foreign investors across China. In a recent interview he stated, “I think every major outside firm is clearly going to have to do a reality check with itself in the wake of the Google announcement.”

Regardless of Google’s recently announced business decision, the rights of Chinese citizens to uncensored internet information continues to be a major international human rights concern, and Google’s actions appear to be one step to resist kowtowing to the government’s demands.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Far-Ranging Support for Google’s China Move – January 14, 2010

The Guardian – China: Google Challenges Censorship – January 14, 2010

CNN News – Google reports China-based attack, says pullout possible – January 13, 2010

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The UN has recently invoked once again inquiries into a compromising and controversial video aired on British network news in August 2009.  The footage depicted Sri Lankan security personnel committing extrajudicial executions of supposed members of the Tamil Tigers resistance organization.  The graphic imagery shows the killing of a naked and bound man, and in the background eight dead bodies can be seen lying in a muddy field.  The UN seeks an independent, impartial investigation into this disturbing footage.

Despite numerous requests to inspect the matter since the time of airing, the Sri Lankan government has adamantly stated that the video specifically manufactured by unknown authors to vilify and disgrace Sri Lankan security and government.  However, the UN claims that the arguments the Sri Lankan government espoused in its defense video have been proven false.  Sri Lanka, however, persists in discrediting the video and avoiding questions bearing upon it and similar human rights –related issues.

Despite the Sri Lankan government’s obstinacy in denying requests to inquire into authenticity of the execution footage, the UN continually presses to enter the country to investigate the matter along with the deaths of more than 7,000 other civilians within the first quarter of 2009.  The Sri Lankan government only recently allowed hundreds of thousands Tamil ethnic minorities to return to their homes after an extended period of time in unsanitary refugee camps.  The government claimed that it was necessary to put into practice an extensive screening process to identify and remove confirmed members of the Tamil Tigers remaining among the Tamil nationals.  The government also claimed that it had to locate and detonate landmines which were possibly strewn about the areas surrounding the camps.

The Sri Lankan military essentially dismantled and defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, putting an end to over forty years of bloodshed which has ravaged the island nation.  However, residual complications from the seemingly tireless struggle continue to plague the civilians of Sri Lanka, which has resulted in myriad human rights issues.  The government’s refusal to allow inquiry into the video represents only a single instance of a lack of cooperation on Sri Lanka’s part to resolve the issues affecting its citizens.

Scrutiny of the execution videos does not show any signs of additional manipulation, suggesting that the footage is indeed authentic.  If so, this one occurrence leaves open the possibility of many more disturbing violations committed with or without judicial consent.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – UN official urges Sri Lanka inquiry – 08 January 2010

Associated Free Press – Sri Lanka faces new charges over war crimes – 07 January 2010

UN – Deeming Sri Lanka execution video authentic… – 07 January 2010

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea –Discussion in South Korea surrounding the topic of abortion has taken on new found importance and public debate despite the being traditionally only talked about privately.

Presently, South Korea has a declining birthrate. Two doctors willing to speak about the issue, Dr. Choi and Dr. Shim, are hoping to force South Korea’s first serious public discussion of the ethics of the procedure. In November, they and dozens of other obstetricians held a news conference at which they asked for “forgiveness” for having performed illegal abortions.

Dr. Choi and Dr. Shim helped form a group, Gynob, that has reached out to other doctors to indicate whether they have performed similar illegal abortions. They formed another group this past December, Pro-Life Doctors, that tries to discourage women from having abortions and instead promotes adoption. The group also has a hot line that reports clinics that perform the procedure illegally. The group hopes to start to report individual practitioners who engage in illegal abortions to police to take further action.

In South Korea, the country has a, Mother and Child Health Law, which permits abortion only when the mother’s health is in serious danger, or in cases of rape, incest or severe hereditary disorders. It is never allowed after the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. As punishment when illegally performed, the woman faces up to a year in prison, and the doctor could be sentenced up to two years in jail. Part of Gynob’s mission is to illustrate the hypocrisy of having such a law that is loosely enforced. The group intends to protest and begin a campaign to end abortion altogether. Prior to the interest generated by these doctors and coalition they have formed, for decades, the South Korean government tended to look the other way, seeing a high birthrate as an impediment to economic growth. In the 1970s and ’80s, families with more that two children were denounced as unpatriotic, with official posters in South Korean villages driving the point home. Until the early 1990s, men could be exempted from mandatory army reserve duty if they had vasectomies.

However, this mindset has changed. Now, the government has concluded that this policy was too successful. South Korea’s fertility rate, which stood at 4.5 children per woman in the 1970s, had fallen to 1.19 children by 2008, and was one of the lowest in the world. The government fears that the recent financial downturn may have lowered it further. There is also the fear that the country’s rapidly aging population will undercut the economy’s viability even more.

In a recent statement, Health Minister, Jeon Jae-hee said, “Even if we don’t intend to hold anyone accountable for all those illegal abortions in the past, we must crack down on them from now on.” Ms. Jeon added that any crackdown should be coupled with an increase in medical fees. The government cap on payments for medical services is thought to have encouraged doctors to perform off-the-books, and potentially far more lucrative, services like illegal abortions.

The campaign to end abortion by Gynob faces resistance from doctors who believe women should be afforded the freedom of choice, and many of these doctors think that a crackdown that does not address the causes of abortion will only cause greater problems. In response, Baik Eun-jeong, an obstetrician who runs a clinic in Seoul’s upscale Kangnam district and speaker for the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said, “We credit them for bringing a widespread but hushed-up social anomaly to the surface, but we can’t go along with their radical tactics.”

In the present state of debate, the discussion will continue as those in support of the anti-abortion law attempt to sway the opinions of abortion supporters.

For more information, please see:

New York Times –South Korea Confronts Open Secret of Abortion – January 5, 2010

Los Angeles Times – In South Korea, abortion foes gain ground – November 29, 2009

Chicago Tribune – Rights for the Unborn Dead: Abortion in Korea – December 3, 2009